A SET of medals that once belonged to the last person to have stepped off the Titanic before the liner's doomed maiden voyage were sold at auction yesterday for £23,000.

Hundreds of bidders from around the globe competed for the medals of Captain Benjamin Steel, who was marine superintendent at Southampton for the White Star Line in April 1912, during an auction at Cameo fine art auctioneers in Midgham, near West Berkshire.

Chris Hart, a partner in Cameo fine art auctioneers, said he could not name the proud new owner of the medals, but said the lot went to a telephone bidder.

He added: "There was a lot of interest on our books and telephone interest. It was a very busy room.

"Most of the interest came from the States and from Ireland, which is where the Titanic was built, so there wasn't much interest from this country.

"We felt around the £25,000 mark was around the sort of figure that we expected."

Captain Steel is believed to have been the last person to leave the ill-fated vessel when he handed over the ship to Captain Smith before her first and last voyage to New York.

Captain Smith also appeared before the Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the Titanic. Asked whether he had checked that the lifeboats were properly equipped he replied, "I did in a general way, yes."

He died in 1944, aged 81, having been marine superintendent at Southampton for 18 years and a with his wife Kate in West End for many years.

They had three sons and a daughter.

- Originally published October 2002.