A key that went missing before the Titanic sank and could potentially have saved the vessel has gone under the hammer in Wiltshire, attracting a winning bid of £90,000.

Sold in a collection of lots linked to the doomed maiden voyage of the White Star liner, the tiny key opened the binoculars store on the ship, but was not on board when it set sail from Southampton to New York on its ill-fated journey.

Marked with a tag stating "Crows Nest Telephone Titanic", the key was taken off the ship in the pocket of second officer David Blair, who forgot to hand it over before he was transferred from the Titanic before it set sail on its maiden voyage in 1912.

The key's absence meant that officers on the Titanic were forced to scan the horizon with the naked eye as they navigated through a dangerous ice field. Just four days after leaving Southampton, the Titanic hit an iceberg on August 14th 1912 and sank in the North Atlantic.

During an official inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic, lookout Fred Fleet stated that the ship may have been able to dodge the iceberg that scuppered it had the binoculars been accessible.

Auctioneer Henry Aldridge in Devizes, Wiltshire, sold the key to a telephone bidder representing Antwerp diamond house Tesiro after a fierce bidding war. He also sold a Titanic launch ticket from Belfast for £32,000 and a postcard sent from one of the passengers for £17,000.