Record-Breaking Titanic Letter Fetches £300,000 at Auction

A letter penned by Colonel Archibald Gracie just days before the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic has set an auction record, selling for £300,000 at Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Wiltshire, UK. With an initial estimate of £60,000, the handwritten letter surprised many by fetching five times that amount. Gracie's letter, written on April 10, 1912—just five days before the Titanic met its tragic fate—has been deemed "prophetic." In it, he relayed to a friend his intention to "await my journey's end" regarding his assessment of the vessel, shortly before it struck an iceberg during its journey to New York, leading to the deaths of over 1,500 passengers and crew members.

The letter, written from cabin C51, was dated on the day Gracie boarded the Titanic at Southampton and was sent while the ship anchored in Queenstown, Ireland. The auctioneers noted that this correspondence represents not only a personal artifact but also the highest price ever garnered for any letter associated with the Titanic. After surviving the disaster by climbing onto an overturned lifeboat, Gracie later chronicled his survival in his book, "The Truth About The Titanic." Despite surviving, his health declined significantly due to injuries and hypothermia sustained during the event. Gracie succumbed to diabetes complications a few months after the tragedy, leaving behind a poignant legacy tied to one of maritime history’s most infamous incidents.