An auction featuring 8,000 items salvaged from 150 shipwrecks is set to take place following the closure of a museum in Cornwall. The Shipwreck Treasure Museum in Charlestown, near St Austell, is offering this extraordinary collection for sale after failing to attract a buyer for the £1.95 million listing earlier this year.

I spoke with David Lay from Lay’s Auctioneers, who is overseeing the auction. “I can’t imagine there’s a more important collection of maritime archaeology worldwide,” he stated. “This collection includes many wonderful and rare discoveries.”

Originally founded in 1976 by Richard Larn, a former navy diver and shipwreck expert, the museum is now breaking its remarkable collection into 1,254 lots. Some of the artefacts are from wrecked vessels that are now protected historic sites or designated war graves.

Among the highlights are 46 grams of coal recovered from the Titanic, which was onboard during its tragic 1912 voyage. While a gold pocket watch that belonged to the ship’s wealthiest passenger recently sold for £1.2 million, the coal is estimated to fetch between £400 and £600. Lay is hopeful that Titanic enthusiasts from around the globe will be drawn to this auction.

Another intriguing item up for bidding is a piece of rope from Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, expected to sell for between £5,000 and £10,000. Lay noted, “Virtually nothing that comes from the Mary Rose ever hits the market. It’s quite unusual.”

Additionally, musket flints recovered from the wreck of the Earl of Abergavenny will also be auctioned. This shipwreck deeply affected the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, who grieved the loss of his brother, John, the ship’s captain, when it sank in Weymouth Bay in 1805.

Jeff Cowton, principal curator at Wordsworth Grasmere, reflects on how the emotional turmoil from his brother’s death shaped Wordsworth’s writing. “He realizes in the poem that he can never go back now he’s experienced what it is to be human in all its grief as well as its joys,” Cowton explained.

The musket flints, found in “incredible” condition, are estimated to be valued between £100 and £200. Other noteworthy items in the auction include a large piece of ornately carved wood from the stern of HMS Eagle, valued at £20,000 to £30,000. This ship, part of the British fleet that captured Gibraltar in 1704, sank in 1707, leading to a tragedy that resulted in the loss of its entire crew of 800.

It was previously reported that Wordsworth remained haunted by the tragedy throughout his life. In a letter from 1848, he expressed his desire to find solace through collecting wooden boxes and walking sticks made from timbers salvaged from shipwrecks. As this rare auction approaches, it promises to be a significant event for collectors and historians alike.