Salvaged Titanic artefacts to be auctioned More than 5,000 artefacts retrieved from the wreckage of Titanic are to be auctioned off on the 100 year anniversary of the ship's sinking. The items, which include crockery, fine clothing, designer handbags and early 20th century gadgets were all picked up from the ocean's surface. Titanic, at the time the world's biggest passenger steamship, set sail from Southampton in the UK bound for New York City on 10th April 1912. RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic four days later. More than 1500 people died. The wreck was found at a depth of 4 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland by an American-French expedition in 1985. The items will be sold off in New York in April as a single collection. Under the rules of the sale, the new owner will have to make the collection available for public viewing. They've been valued at $189 million. More about: Auction, History, Shipwrecks