A Titanic band member's violin that miraculously survived the sinking of the famed ocean liner is hitting the auction block. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
It's one of the most memorable scenes from Titanic. As the ship goes down, the band plays the haunting hymn, "Nearer My God to Thee."
The legendary musicians have gone down in history for trying to calm the doomed passengers rather than save themselves.
They were all lost with the ship and for 100 years, it was presumed their instruments were lost with them.
But now, the actual violin played on that fateful night by the leader of the band has been discovered.
It was found in an attic in England and a team of experts has been working for seven years to authenticate it.
The violin was played by 34-year-old Wallace Henry Hartley. It was a gift from his fiancée, Maria Robinson.
A corroded silver plate on the violin reads for Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria.
Before he went down with the ship, Hartley packed the violin in a case and strapped it to his body. The case may even have kept him afloat.
When rescuers pulled his dead body from the water, they found the violin. The instrument was presented to his grieving fiancée, and it was passed down through the generations.
It's in remarkably good condition but there are two long cracks on the rosewood and because it was immersed in salt water, the instrument itself is unplayable.
It stands as a reminder of a young man's courage in the face of doom.
