Only Surviving Letter Written Aboard The Titanic To Be Auctioned On April 26
A letter written aboard the RMS Titanic, hours before it sank is set to be auctioned on April 26 this year. The letter, believed to be the only surviving piece of letter written aboard the Titanic is expected to be sold for over $166,000, reports the BBC.
Written by Esther Hart, who was on her way to New York along with her daughter Eva and husband Benjamin on the Titanic, the letter takes you back 102 years ago to the day when the Titanic, the largest moving object ever (then) made by man was about to meet its infamous end. The letter is embossed with the White Star Line logo and famously displays an On board RMS “Titanic.” sign. In the letter, Esther writes to her mother in Chadwell Heath, East London, but it was never actually sent.
The only surviving letter from aboard the Titanic starts very innocently with a “My dear and all…” It details a normal passenger’s view of the ship and throws new perspective on the Titanic’s minute characteristics in the words of a layman. The letter ends with a few words from Eva who says “Heaps of love and kisses to all”. The letter talks about a “Sunday afternoon” and in it Mrs. Hart talks about her health which wasn’t great until the previous day. She then talks about the Church service she attended on board the Titanic. Mrs Hart also had comments about the stability of the Titanic. She writes, “Anyhow it rolls enough for me.”
The letter was probably handed over to Benjamin who kept it in his jacket. When the Titanic hit the Iceberg, nearly eight hours after this letter was written, both Esther and Eva were saved. Unfortunately, Benjamin wasn’t. This letter was recovered from Benjamin’s jacket after his body was found. He was among the more than 1,500 people who died after the Titanic sunk.
The letter is in the possession of Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, Wiltshire, who has in the past too, auctioned a large number of Titanic related memorabilia. The company will also auction another piece of Titanic memorabilia on the same day – a breakfast menu for the second class passengers aboard the Titanic.
In the past, The Inquistr has reported about other Titanic memorabilia being sold for large sums of money. In October, a violin claimed to have been from the ship sold for a staggering $1.6 million. Over a century past the sinking of the Titanic, the ship continues to fascinate a large number of people. Just last week, a Reddit user had posted about a letter written by a Titanic survivor. His letter was however not written from aboard the ship.
It was on April 14, 1912 that The Titanic, the world’s biggest ocean liner of its time hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. How much do you think is this letter from the Titanic actually worth?
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]
