'Titanic Iceberg' photo to be auctioned In UK, together with biscuit from the doomed liner

A "remarkable" photograph apparently of the iceberg responsible for sinking the Titanic is likely to sell at auction for more than £10,000. The grainy picture was taken on the morning of 15 April, 1912, a few hours after the tragic collision, which took place just before midnight. The Titanic sank just over two hours after the impact, with more than 1,500 fatalities.

Auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son say the original image was captured by the chief steward of the steamer Prinz Adalbert, which passed the iceberg. He said there was red paint on one side of the iceberg, purportedly from the Titanic's hull. Also in the auction is a document written and signed by the chief steward concerning the photo.

It says: "On the day after the sinking of the Titanic, the steamer Prinz Adalbert passes the iceberg shown in this photograph. The Titanic disaster was not yet known by us. On one side red paint was plainly visible, which has the appearance of having been made by the scraping of a vessel on the iceberg. SS Prinz Adalbert Hamburg America Line". Three other crewmen also signed the document.

And what could be the world's most costly biscuit, which survived the Titanic's sinking, is also up for auction. The Spillers and Bakers pilot biscuit – a variety of cracker made with flour and water – was part of a survival kit stored in one of the liner's lifeboats. It was kept as a souvenir by James Fenwick, who was a passenger on board the SS Carpathia, which picked up some of the Titanic survivors. Fenwick placed the precious biscuit in a Kodak photographic envelope complete with the original note, which stated: "Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912."

"It is the world's most valuable biscuit," said auctioneer, Andrew Aldridge. "We don't know which lifeboat the biscuit came from, but there are no other Titanic lifeboat biscuits in existence, to my knowledge. It is incredible that this biscuit has survived such a dramatic event. In terms of precedence, a few years ago a biscuit from one of Shackleton's Antarctic expeditions sold for about £3,000. We have put an estimate of between £8,000 and £10,000, which makes it the most valuable biscuit in the world."