Titanic captain's steward 'feared doomed ship was cursed after near-miss at port'

London, Mar 29 (ANI): A Titanic-headed letter by the captain's personal steward in which he mentioned about his apprehensions that the ill-fated liner was cursed with bad luck is up for auction.

In his note days before the ship sank, Arthur Paintin said he hoped a near-collision Titanic had with another vessel when it left port was not a sign of things to come, the Daily MAil reported.

Surprisingly, he also told his parents in England that he expected to be away at sea all summer 'bar accidents'.

Paintin was extremely close to Captain Edward Smith and was last seen standing on the bridge next to him moments before the liner sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912.

When the ship docked at Queenstown, Ireland, three days before the tragedy, Paintin took the opportunity to post the letter to his parents in Oxford.

In it, he cautioned of how the Titanic may have been followed by bad luck associated with her sister ship the Olympic, which had accidentally collided with a battleship the year before.

"We have now commenced the quick voyages all the summer (bar accidents)," he wrote.

"I say that because the Olympic's bad luck seems to have followed us."

He then explained in detail how the Titanic and the liner the New York almost collided at Southampton on April 10.

In a well-documented near-miss, the New York slipped her moorings under the pressure of Titanic's suction, causing it to drift towards the 'unsinkable' ship.

The letter, which has been handed down through Paintin's family over the last 100 years, is tipped to sell for 36,000 pounds at the auction, which would be held on Saturday.t is being sold by one of his direct descendants

And besides the letter, an unpublished photo of the steward, which has been made available by the family, will also be sold. (ANI)