A MOVING account of the Titanic's final moments written by a survivor whose close friend died in the tragedy is to be auctioned.

Divorced journalist, author and women's rights activist Helen Churchill Candee penned the 36-page memoir after she was just one of the 700 passengers to reach safety.

While on board the ill-fated liner, as it set sail from Southampton to New York, she struck up a romance with fellow American Edward Kent.

They both travelled first class on Titanic's maiden voyage in April 1912 but became separated when the vessel hit an iceberg.

Edward, a 60-year-old architect, helped Helen on to a lifeboat and stayed on board to help children to safety - a decision that left him among the 1,523 passengers including 549 men, women and children from Southampton who died.

As the pair parted Helen gave Edward a small brandy flask and a picture of her mother for safekeeping because she thought he had a better chance of surviving than she did.

In her memoir she recalled: "I held out to him a silver flask and a miniature of my mother. But Kent drew back his hands. Angered, I commanded 'Take them'."

Both keepsakes were recovered from Edward's body and fetched £34,000 at auction last year.

Helen, who died in 1949, aged 90, described how the passengers reacted after the vessel started sinking.

"On every man and woman's body was tied the sinister white lifebelt, the last response at sea. Some were over women's evening gowns, some over men's bathrobes, and above each was a pale face of courage."

She also wrote of the so called unsinkable liner's final moments: "There was no shriek, nor wail, nor frantic shout. Instead, a heavy moan as of one being from whom final agony forces a single sound."

The memoir is expected to fetch £25,000 when it goes under the hammer at an auction of Titanic and White Star memorabilia at Henry Aldridge and Son's headquarters in Devizes, Wiltshire on April 29.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "It is one of the best accounts of the night Titanic sank. Mrs Candee was a well educated, incredible woman and it is the first time her memoir has been seen in its entirety."

The auction will also feature a photograph of the Titanic alongside her sister ship Olympic taken on March 6, 1912, in Belfast - just six weeks before she sank.

First published Tuesday 18 April 2006