THE ill-fated Titanic has given up another secret in the shape of a unique postcard that hints of a potential romance between one of the liner's postal workers and the teenage daughter of a Southampton publican.

James Williamson, 35, had been promised a kiss by 17-year-old Gladys Copeland, whose father George ran the Queensland pub in Fanshawe Street, if he sent her a memento of the majestic ship before she set sail from the town.

On the eve of the infamous ship's departure, Williamson, who moved from Dublin in Ireland to live at Clovelley Road, Southampton, kept his end of the bargain by mailing her a picture of the Titanic on the front.

Gladys, however, wasn't there when he popped in for a drink but he left a tantalising message: "George wanted me to wait last night for you to fulfil your promise. This is the souvenir of the Titanic's maiden voyage.''

He signed the card with his nickname of "Pat".

Williamson never set eyes on Gladys again.

He was one of the 1,523 passengers and crew - one-third from the Southampton area - who perished when the liner sank after colliding with an iceberg in April 1912.

The sad story of the lost kiss has been rekindled with the news that the postcard and photographs of Gladys and her father outside their pub are to be being auctioned in Devizes, Wiltshire, and are expected to make about £20,000.

Auctioneer Alan Aldridge said: "This postcard is extraordinarily rare.

"It is the first of its kind to turn up bearing the number seven postmark, which was normally only used on packets that contained letters.''

Williamson had moved to England three years before his death to send back money for his widowed mother and four sisters in his native Ireland.

He joined the Transatlantic Sea Post Office before getting the prize job on board the Titanic.

As the ship began to flounder, he and his colleagues moved 200 sacks of post from the mail room to the upper deck, believing they would be saved. They stayed with the post until the ship slid beneath the waves.

The Queensland pub traded for many years after the tragedy. The fabric of the building still remains and the one-time crewmen's haunt is shortly due to be redeveloped into flats.

Gladys died in Sydney, Australia, in 1970, aged 75. The postcard was one of her effects.

- Originally published July 2002.