Titanic: First-class menu sold for £83,000 at auction

Have you ever wondered what passengers on the Titanic ate for dinner?

Well, now you can find out... A menu for first class passengers on board the famous cruise ship has sold at auction for £83,000.

It's believed to be the only one in existence, dating from the 11th of April 1912 - the day the ship left Ireland heading for New York, and three days before it hit an iceberg and sank.

What did people on the Titanic eat?

The menu reveals passengers dined on food like oysters, beef and ice-cream.

There was also an option for Victoria pudding for dessert, that's a boiled pudding, made by mixing flour, eggs, jam, brandy, apples, cherries, sugar and spices.

The menu had different options for starter, main and dessert

Andrew Aldridge, manager of the auction house Henry Aldridge & Son, believes that while a few other first-class menus from other days have survived, this is the only one for this particular evening.

"I've spoken to several museums globally, and I've spoken to a number of our Titanic collectors," he said, "I can't find another one anywhere."

The auction was Titanic themed, and other rare items from the ship were sold, such as a tartan blanket that passengers could use to keep warm on-deck.

What happened to the Titanic?

At the time it was launched, the Titanic was the biggest ship ever made and was even described by some as "unsinkable".

But the Titanic was just four days into its first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean when, at 11.40pm on Sunday 14 April 1912, it struck an iceberg.

Within minutes of hitting the iceberg the ship began to take on thousands of tonnes of sea water through holes in its side.

The captain, Edward J Smith, ordered the lifeboats to be lowered, with women and children taking the first spots.

There were enough spaces for 1,000 passengers (not enough for all the people on board), but some of the boats were sent off half-full.