A brooch a Titanic steward gifted to a female passenger in a real-life love story, likened to Jack and Rose from the epic movie, has emerged for sale.
Roberta Maioni struck up a romance with the unnamed crew member during the four days she spent on board the ill-fated liner. The then 20-year-old was the maid to a first class passenger and it is thought she fell in love with the young man who was their cabin steward. Their short romance bears striking similarities to the one between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, in James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic.
After the ship struck an iceberg on the night of April 12, 1912, and the passengers had to evacuate the ship, the steward sought Roberta out. He escorted her from her cabin to lifeboat number 8 and made sure she was safe. As he did so he handed Roberta the white star-shaped badge that was on his uniform to remember him by, as it tragically turned out. Just like DiCaprio's character Jack, the young steward died in the disaster.
