A PHOTOGRAPH of the iceberg thought to have caused the Titanic disaster will go up for auction today.

The iceberg menacingly floating in freezing waters is believed to be the culprit which ultimately sunk the Titanic days after it set sail from Southampton -- leading to the deaths of around 1,500 people.

Now a photograph of the infamous berg will go under the hammer later today.

It was taken by the chief steward of the liner Prinz Adalbert that passed the iceberg the day after the disaster in 1912 which claimed the lives of around 1,500 people after it set sail from Southampton.

He was still unaware of the sinking but describes seeing scrapings of red paint on the side of the iceberg.

The photograph, right, will go under auction at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes and is estimated to sell for up to to £15,000.

The picture taken by the chief steward of the passing Prinz Adalbert vessel will also be accompanied by a previously unpublished document he wrote of his account.

It follows a biscuit which survived the sinking the Titanic being placed to go under the hammer at the same auction.

A handwritten account by the steward, which is also included in the lot,’s handwritten letter states: "On the day after the sinking of the Titanic, the steamer Prinz Adalbert passes the iceberg shown in this photograph.

“The Titanic disaster was not yet known by us. On one side red paint was plainly visible, which has the appearance of having been made by the scraping of a vessel on the iceberg – SS Prinz Adalbert Hamburg America Line.’’ It is signed by the chief steward and three other crewmen.

The Titanic sank on April 14 1912 during its maiden voyage to New York from Southampton.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: ‘’The photograph was acquired not long after the Titanic’s sinking by Burlingham, Montgomery & Beecher, attorneys for Titanic’s owners, White Star Line.

‘’This photograph, regarded by generations of Burlingham maritime lawyers as ‘The Titanic Iceberg’ hung on the firm’s walls from 1913 until it closed its doors in 2002.

‘It is now being offered for sale on behalf of the four attorneys who were still partners of the firm at the time of its demise.’’ The Spillers and Bakers ‘Pilot’ biscuit was part of a survival kit stored within one of the ill-fated ocean liner’s lifeboats and was kept as a souvenir.

The biscuit will be sold with the Fenwick archive – a unique photographic history of the rescue of survivors.