THE story of how a dad died on the Titanic after helping his wife and children to safety can be told for the first time.

Arthur West had helped wife Ada and daughters Constance and Barbara onto a lifeboat before dashing back to their cabin to grab a flask of hot milk for them.When he returned, the boat was being lowered into the sea, so he shimmied down a rope and handed them the flask before climbing back aboard the liner.

Unknown to the crew, two men were already on the lifeboat, hiding under the skirts of women passengers.

The story has emerged 97 years on after artefacts belonging to his family were made public.

Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge Auctioneers of Devizes, which is selling the documents said the archive was unique. It is expected to fetch £60,000 when it is sold on April 18.

“It has been owned by the same family since 1912 and has barely been seen by anyone before,” he said.

“The family hardly spoke about the disaster, except for the odd correspondence with family, and rejected offers from film-makers and alike.

“The collection catalogues the beginning, middle and end of the Titanic from their point of view – from letters of hope and anticipation by Mr West, to his wife’s hand-written account about the sinking to a heart-rending letter she wrote talking about her loss.

“And pinning it all together is this old flask that she kept all these years because it represents the last moment shared with her husband.”

Mr West, 36, lived in Southbourne, Bournemouth, with his family and worked as a floor walker at department store JJ Allen.

The family were emigrating to Florida when Titanic hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Mrs West and her children, Constance, 5, and Barbara, 10 months old, were placed into lifeboat 10.

In her account Mrs West said: “We were amongst the first to leave the ship.

Arthur placed lifebelts upon the children then carried them onto the boat deck.

After seeing us safely into the lifeboat, Arthur returned to the cabin for a Thermos of hot milk and finding the lifeboat let down, he reached it by means of a rope, gave the flask to me, and, with a farewell returned to the deck.

“Unbeknown to the two crew in charge of the lifeboat, Japanese passenger Masabumi Hosono, 41, and Turk Neshan Krekorian, 25, had crept on board.

Mrs West wrote: “There were men in our boat who had concealed themselves under the ladies’ skirts and had to be asked to stop lighting cigarettes.”

She added: “It was only when I saw the ship sink and heard the awful cries and groans from the poor drowning creatures that I felt the least bit of fear as to his safety.”

Ada West died aged 74 in 1953 and Constance died in 1963, aged 56. Mr West’s body was never recovered.When Barbara died aged 96 in 2007 she was the last but one British survivor of the Titanic. The archive is expected to fetch up to £60,000 at auction on April 18.