A letter written by a first-class passenger aboard the Titanic just days before the ship sank sold for nearly $400,000 (300,000 pounds) at auction over the weekend.
The letter, described as “museum grade,” was penned by Col. Archibald Gracie and mailed from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912 — the day the ill-fated liner departed on its maiden voyage. It was addressed to the great-uncle of the seller and is believed to be the only known letter written by Gracie while onboard the Titanic.
“It is a fine ship, but I shall await my journey’s end before I pass judgment on her,” Gracie wrote in the note, according to the Associated Press.
Who was Col. Archibald Gracie?
Gracie boarded the Titanic in Southampton and was assigned first-class cabin C51. He survived the disaster by jumping into the icy North Atlantic and clinging to an overturned collapsible lifeboat. He was eventually rescued by passengers aboard another boat and taken to the R.M.S. Carpathia.
After returning to New York, Gracie wrote “The Truth About the Titanic,” which historians regard as one of the most detailed firsthand accounts of the disaster. He never fully recovered from the effects of hypothermia and died later that year from complications related to diabetes.
The letter bears a Queenstown, Ireland, postmark — one of two stops the Titanic made before striking an iceberg and sinking off the coast of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy.
Gracie came from a prominent lineage. His father was a Confederate officer in the Civil War, and his great-grandfather built Gracie Mansion, now the official residence of the mayor of New York City.
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