A ladies' pocket watch discovered among the possessions of a passenger who tragically drowned during the Titanic's ill-fated maiden voyage could be sold for up to £50,000 at auction. The timepiece belonged to Danish second-class passenger Hans Christensen Givard, 27, who was one of the over 1,500 passengers who died when the ship hit an iceberg in 1912.

Mr Givard was travelling to the US with two friends, who also lost their lives in the catastrophe. His body was recovered from the icy North Atlantic and he was subsequently laid to rest in Halifax, Canada. Among his personal effects were a savings book, keys, cash in a wallet, a silver watch, a compass, a passport, and the gilded ladies' pocket watch, which shows signs of saltwater corrosion. 

All of Mr Givard's belongings were returned to his brother in Denmark, and it is his descendants who have decided to auction the watch.

The tragic tale of Mr Givard inspired curator Jesper Hjermind and his niece, journalist and US resident Mette Hjermind McCall, to pen the book Titanic – De Danske Fortaellinger (Titanic – The Danish Stories), where the pocket watch is mentioned.

The watch was also displayed by Claes Goran Wetterholm, a leading authority on the Scandinavian aspect of the Titanic story, in Copenhagen in 2012. 

The timepiece will be auctioned off at Henry Aldridge and Son, of Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 26.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "This piece is documented in the official list of Hans's effects compiled by the Authorities in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the weeks after the Titanic disaster and has remained in his family ever since.

"It was one of the centre pieces of the display of Titanic memorabilia in the Tivoli in Copenhagen in 2012 which illustrates its importance.

"The watches movement is frozen in time at the moment the cold North Atlantic waters consumed not only its owner but the most famous ocean liner of all time Titanic on April 15, 1912."