PRECIOUS mementoes from a love affair on board ill-fated Titanic, mirrored in the blockbuster Hollywood movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, have fetched £34,000 at auction.

An anonymous UK buyer outbid an American collector in a frantic telephone battle to take possession of the American silver brandy flask and handwritten note.

The final price was double what experts had predicted.

Wealthy American travellers Edward Kent and Helen Churchill Candee met and fell in love as they travelled first class on the liner's maiden transatlantic voyage from Southampton to New York in April, 1912.

When Titanic hit an iceberg and sank, on April 14, they were parted as architect Edward helped Helen, an author and feminist, on to a lifeboat.

In a decision that cost him his own life, Edward stayed on board to help other women and children to safety.

As in the blockbuster movie, which sees Leonardo DiCaprio perish in the freezing waters, 60-year-old Edward was one of 1,522 passengers who died including 549 men, women and children from Southampton.

However, divorced Helen, 52, was one of the lucky 700 passengers who survived.

Details of their romance emerged when the small brandy flask and a miniature picture of Helen's mother were recovered on Edward's body.

His family used the inscription on the flask "Faithful but Unfortunate", the Churchill family motto, to track down Helen who was living in New York.

She had given the two keepsakes to Edward for safeguarding as they parted because she thought he had a better chance of surviving than she did.

Edward's sister returned the items to Helen with the auctioned note dated May 13, 1913, which said: "I'm glad you are to have them back again."

Chief auctioneer Alan Aldridge of Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, said: "The good things associated with the Titanic still have a big allure for buyers. The fact that they were linked with a love story certainly helped.

"It is an incredible story. The truth is often far more interesting than fiction. We'll never know what happened between them. But the fact the flask and letter are both still around is amazing."