Today, April 14, in 1912 the 'unsinkable' RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the Atlantic and began slowly to capsize. It was not until the following day that the ship finally succumbed to the sea.

Regular readers will know that collectibles from the tragedy have been highly prized by investors, including a third class menu which sold for $44,650 at auction.

Around 5,500 historic objects have been recovered from the wreck, following its discovery in 1985.

Collectibles from a disaster with a happier ending are also proving popular with collectors.

It was this week in 1970 that the Apollo 13 space mission safely returned to earth following an abortive attempt to reach the moon.

RMS Titanic in Southampton docks

An explosion in the spacecraft's oxygen tanks on April 14 required the crew members and ground staff to engineer a safe return through amazing ingenuity, using the mission's lunar module as a deep space "lifeboat".

Commander Lovell and lunar module pilot Haise's mission notes sold for $27,450 in 2009, just one of many items of Apollo 13 memorabilia to have caught the attention of space enthusiasts.