A timepiece shows Titanic couple's death

London, Feb 21: A traditional timepiece that shows the moment a couple of newlywed Titanic passengers fell into the sea and died together is being displayed for the first time at an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall, UK.

Honeymoon couple John Chapman, 37, and bride Lizzie, 29, were pitched into the freezing Atlantic water on the tragic April 15 in 1912, when the ship struck an iceberg.

Though Lizzie was offered a lifeboat, she refused it because her beloved husband was not allowed to go with her.

She turned to her friend Emily Richards to say goodbye.

"Goodbye Mrs Richards, if John can't go, I won't go either," the Mirror quoted her as having said.

The couple were travelling to Wisconsin at the time so as to start a new life.

Lizzie's body was never found.

The couple's story was later used as the inspiration for two newlywed characters in the 1958 Titanic film 'A Night To Remember'.

John's traditional timepiece is currently a treasured family heirloom.

"The watch was sent back with other personal effects once the body was found and has been passed down the family," said his great nephew William Sargent.

He added: "My father, John Chapman, was named after his uncle who died on the Titanic. My dad never liked the sea and always said it was hungry.

I suppose if you knew your aunt and uncle had perished so famously you would think like that."

ANI