A “prophetic” letter written aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic ocean liner has been auctioned in England for a shocking sum.
The letter was offered by Wiltshire-based Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd. on April 26. It was written by Archibald Gracie IV on April 10, 1912 – simply 5 days earlier than the ship sank on April 15.
Gracie penned the word on April 10, when the ship left Southampton, England. The letter was postmarked in London two days later, on April 12.
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“It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey’s end before I pass judgment on her,” Gracie wrote compellingly within the letter.
“The Oceanic is like an old friend and while she does not possess the elaborate style and varied amusement of this big ship, still her seaworthy qualities and yacht-like appearance make me miss her,” he added.
The auctioned-off letter was dated April 10 and postmarked April 12 – simply days earlier than catastrophe struck. (Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd.; Getty Pictures)
As famous by Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd, Gracie awakened out of the blue earlier than midnight on April 14 when the Titanic hit an iceberg.
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“He later wrote that more than half the men who had originally reached the lifeboat either died from exhaustion or cold, quietly slipping off the keel during the night,” the public sale home stated.
The British auctioneer who offered the letter referred to as it “prophetic.” (Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd.)
“As dawn broke, Col Gracie returned to New York City aboard the rescue ship Carpathia, where he began writing about what he had been through.”
Although Gracie survived the shipwreck, his well being was severely impacted by the catastrophe.
He suffered from hypothermia and varied bodily accidents on the day of the sinking.
In Dec. 1912, he fell right into a coma earlier than dying of issues from diabetes.
The RMS Titanic, which left Southampton, England, on her maiden voyage on April 10, is seen right here. (AP Picture/File)
Initially predicted to fetch the equal of $80,000, the 103-year-old piece of paper was offered for an eye-popping 300,000 kilos, or $399,000.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge referred to as the letter “one of the finest of its type known.”
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“Not only is it written by one of the most important first-class passengers on Titanic, [but] the letter itself contains the most prophetic line: ‘It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey’s end before I pass judgment on her,’” Aldridge stated.
“Five days later, Titanic was at the bottom of the North Atlantic.”
The RMS Titanic has lcaptured the general public’s fascination for over a century. The ship’s stays, seen right here, have been found within the Eighties. (NOAA/Institute for Exploration/College of Rhode Island)
The public sale is proof of the general public’s enduring fascination with the Titanic over 110 years after the tragic shipwreck.
In November, an identical postcard from a Titanic sufferer at one other Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd. public sale offered for $25,000.
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On the identical public sale, a Tiffany and Co. timepiece given to a Titanic rescuer went for just below $2 million, 10 occasions greater than the unique guided value.
Sydney Borchers contributed to this report.
