Letter written on board the Titanic auctioned for nearly 350,000 euros

A letter written by one of the survivors of the Titanic, a few days before the disaster, was auctioned on Saturday for 300,000 pounds (around 350,000 euros) in England. The letter, dated April 10, 1912, is from the first -class passenger Colonel Archibald Gracie and addressed to the seller’s great -uncle. Gracie wrote: « It is a beautiful ship, but I will wait for the end of my journey before I judge it. »

The auction house Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire sold the letter to a private collector from the United States. The hammer price was far above the initially estimated value of 60,000 pounds.

Gracie survived the ship disaster of April 15, 1912, in which around 1,500 people died, by hoisting on a capsized lifeboat. He was saved by other passengers in a lifeboat and transferred to the RMS Carpathia. His health, however, did not fully recover from the surcharges contracted; Eight months later he died of complications of diabetes.

According to the auction house, the letter is probably the only existing copy that Gracie wrote on board the Titanic. The letter described in four sides also contains the passage: « The Oceanic is like an old friend and although she does not have the extensive style and the varied entertainment of this big ship, I still miss her because of its seaworthy qualities and hunting appearance. » With the ‘Oceanic’, Gracie refers to another ship on which he had previously sailed. According to the auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, « letters from survivors are as controversial as Colonel Gracie rarely on the market, » and « this piece has never been offered for sale before ».

Archibald Gracie boarded the Titanic in Southampton and was assigned first -class Hut C51. After his return to New York, he wrote a book about the disaster entitled The Truth About The TitanicAccording to Aldridge, his report of the events at the night that the ship sank, is one of the most detailed. The letter was stamped in Queenstown, Ireland, one of the two ports where the Titanic was still built for the ship.

High amounts

Other objects from the history of the Titanic still yield high amounts. Such as the pocket watch by the Danish passenger Hans Christensen Givard, which attracted a lot of interest. Givard, then 27 years old, died in the disaster. His watch, a gilded women’s model with Roman figures and traces of saltwater corrosion, was found by his body. It remained in family property for decades and was auctioned on Saturday at Henry Aldridge & Son. The expected yield is between 30,000 and 50,000 pounds, but no message has been published about the final selling price or the buyer.

Recently an 18-carat gold pocket watch by Captain Arthur Rostron, commander of the RMS Carpathia, who saved more than seven hundred survivors from the Titanic, was sold for 1.56 million pounds. The watch, made by Tiffany & Co., was a gift from the widows of three rich passengers as a thank you for his performance. Never before has such a high amount been paid for a piece that is directly attached to the Titanic.

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