'World's most valuable biscuit' among surprising artefacts scavenged from the Titanic

HMS Titanic has been sitting at the bottom of the ocean for more than a century and though lost to the deep of the cold North Atlantic, remains far from abandoned.

Hordes of salvage crews and treasure divers have been picking through the liner’s rusting bulk over the years in search of artefacts lost to history.

From a hulking slice of the ship’s hull to a delicate letter penned by a passenger on the day of the sinking, the relics raised from the seabed have sold at auction for millions of pounds.

Auction houses worldwide have made fortunes in the trade of belongings and clothing left by the Titanic’s ill-fate passengers and crew.

Among the most surprising items to go under the hammer is a worn violin last played as the Titanic slipt below the waves.

The instrument has an incredible backstory with the last owner believed to be non-other than the ship’s bandleader Wallace Hartley.

Mr Hartley famously led his fellow musicians in a rendition of “Nearer, My God, to Thee” as the ship went down.

In 2013, the violin was sold at auction in the UK, eventually going for $1.7million (£1.29million)- the highest amount ever for a Titanic architect.

Letters preserved despite the length of time have also fetched a tidy sum.

Many also over a heartbreaking insight into the lives of the people who sailed on Titanic on that doomed voyage.

One such letter was penned by Esther Hart and her seven-year-old daughter Eva, both of whom survived the accident, on April 12, the day of the sinking.

The letter, addressed to Esther’s mother in Chadwell Heath, was saved because it was stored in the pocket of Esther’s husband’s coat, which he had given her to stay warm.

Her husband, however, did not survive the disaster.

Perhaps the strangest object to be sold from the Titanic is a humble biscuit.