Titanic survivor's letter sells for record price at auction

A letter from a famous Titanic survivor has sold at auction for a record £300,000. Archibald Gracie is famous for leaving one of the most vivid accounts of the 1912 maritime disaster.

A message written by a Titanic survivor has sold at auction for a record £300,000, The Guardian reports. First-class passenger Colonel Archibald Gracie wrote a book, The Truth About the Titanic, in which he described his experiences of the tragedy on April 15, 1912, which claimed the lives of 1,500 people as the ship sank to New York. The postcard is dated April 10, 1912, the day he boarded, and was sent to Queenstown at 3.45pm on April 11 and to London on April 12.

The message read: "This is a fine ship, but I will wait until my travels are over before I pass judgment on her."

The lot sold at auction in Wiltshire on Saturday for five times its expected price of £60,000.

According to auctioneers, it is the highest price ever achieved for a letter written on board the Titanic.

Letters from "Gracie Profile survivors" rarely, if ever, come to market, and the item has never been offered for sale before, the auctioneers added.

The merchant's great-uncle, who was an acquaintance of Gracie's, received the letter at the Waldorf Hotel in London. The inscription was written on all four sides and was accompanied by the following note: "An ocean liner is to me like an old friend, and although she has not the fine style and variety of amusements of the great ship, yet her sea-going qualities and yacht-like appearance make me miss her. It was very kind of you to send me off with your best wishes for success and happiness, Archibald Gracie."

The colonel was reported to have "spent much of the journey consorting with various unaccompanied women," including the woman and three sisters who survived.

According to The Guardian, on April 14, he played squash and swam in the Titanic's pool, then went to church and spoke to the public. Around 11:40 a.m., he woke up to find the liner's engines were not working. Gracie helped women and children into lifeboats and brought them blankets before the doomed ship sank into the North Atlantic Ocean.

Gracie managed to climb onto the overturned collapsible boat along with several dozen other men. There were swimmers around them, but those on board swam away, fearing their vessel would be sunk.

The colonel later wrote: “I am glad to say that I never heard a word of reproach from a swimmer for refusing to render assistance.”

One refusal "was met with a manly voice from a strong man" who said, "Okay, guys, good luck and God bless you," he said.

He also reported that more than half of the people who first reached the boat died from exhaustion or cold and slid off the overturned keel during the night.

The auctioneers say The Truth About Titanic is "one of the most detailed accounts of the events of that evening."

The auctioneers added: “The rarity of this lot cannot be overstated, it is written by one of the most famous surviving people, with excellent content and on the rarest of media - a postcard. This is a truly exceptional museum-quality piece.”