Proceeds from the sale a decade ago of a small iron key that is believed to have secured the binoculars for the Titanic's crow's nest are still helping to fund the education programme for the international Christian maritime charity Sailors' Society.

Ten years ago on Friday (September 22), the key, which had been accidentally taken off the ship before it sailed, sold for £90,000 at an auction in Wiltshire.

In an inquiry after the Titanic sank in 1912, one of the lookouts said that he could have prevented it from hitting the iceberg, had the binoculars not been left locked away.

The Sailors' Society received the key as a donation in the 1980s, and sold it to a Chinese businessman in 2007.

Now, the proceeds from the sale of the key are still helping to fund its education programme.

Sailors' Society CEO Stuart Rivers said: 'We're very glad that more than a century on we are able to make so much good come out of something from such a tragic event.

'The money we raised from the sale has been changing the lives of students around the world by giving them the opportunity of an education.'

The key never made it onto the Titanic's fateful maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912, because it was inside the pocket of second officer David Blair.

Blair was due to sail with the ship, but he was replaced at the last minute, crucially forgetting to hand over the key when he disembarked.

One of the Titanic's lookouts, Fred Fleet, later told an inquiry that the binoculars could have saved the ship and the lives of the 1,522 who died.

Blair kept the key, passing it onto his daughter Nancy, who in turn donated it to Sailors' Society in the 1980s.

The charity's education programme offers grants and bursaries to help aspiring seafarers achieve careers at sea, as well as to those from seafaring families who are unable to afford an education.

Since 2011, more than 100 people have benefited from scholarships and nautical grants awarded by the Sailors' Society.

One of the current recipients is 19-year-old Filipino Mayce Gel, whose father Ronel was on board a vessel that was hijacked by pirates. He was left traumatised and unable to return to sea, and could not afford to send Mayce to school until the Sailors' Society intervened with a grant that is now enabling her to attend university.

Gel said: 'It's like it built my dreams again, because I really wanted to finish school.'

Another beneficiary is the British seafarer Charley Jess, who is undergoing a scholarship at the Warsash Maritime Academy.

Currently at sea, Jess's training includes tanker fire-fighting, safety training and tuition – all of which has been funded by Sailors' Society.

The Sailors' Society has prioritised education throughout its 200-year history.

One of the crew who died on the night the Titanic sank, Scarborough-born James Paul Moody, was a former pupil of the King Edward VII Nautical School for 'hardy and heroic sons of the sea' – a school founded by the charity.