A rare letter penned by Colonel Archibald Gracie, one of the Titanic’s most distinguished survivors, has fetched a record £300,000, a fivefold increase on its estimated price, at an auction in Wiltshire, as a new high price for Titanic correspondence was smashed.
The letter, dated April 10, 1912, the very day Gracie boarded the Titanic, offers a chilling glimpse into the final days before disaster struck. Written on a Titanic letter card and postmarked in Queenstown and London, it is ominous in tone, with the following ominous words: “It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey’s end before I pass judgment on her.”
Auctioneer Henry Aldridge and Son described it as “a truly exceptional, museum-grade piece,” saying it is the record price for a Titanic letter. Survivor letters of Gracie’s stature are extremely rare, with this one never previously on the market.
The four-page letter, written to a family acquaintance who befriended Gracie at the London Waldorf Hotel, is warm in its reminiscence about his earlier crossings on the Oceanic, remembering, “Her sea-worthy qualities and yacht-like appearance make me miss her,” while also marveling at the size of the Titanic.
Days later, Gracie would be a participant in one of history’s most horrific nights. Following an evening of squash, a dip in the ship’s pool, and a Sunday church service, Gracie was rudely awakened at 11:40 pm by the abrupt shutdown of Titanic’s engines. Without hesitation, he assisted women and children into lifeboats, procuring blankets to protect them from the cold.
When the ship finally went down into the Atlantic waves, Gracie crawled onto an upturned collapsible boat with other survivors. In the blackness, frantic swimmers cried out for assistance, but fear of capsizing prevented those on board from taking on more. Gracie remembered with sorrow that over half the men holding on to the upturned boat died before dawn, exhausted and chilled.
“In no instance, I am happy to say, did I hear any word of rebuke,” Gracie wrote in his later memoir, The Truth About the Titanic, recounting the final moments of those left behind, some offering blessings rather than curses.
Col. Gracie’s eye-witness account is still one of the most detailed and graphic accounts of the tragedy. The auctioneers titled the letter an invaluable relic, “It is impossible to overstate the rarity of this lot,” they added. “Written by one of the most famous survivors, it captures a moment frozen in time.”