Letter from Colonel Archibald Gracipassenger Titanicwas purchased on Sunday by an anonymous buyer for a record amount 300 thousand pounds (almost PLN 1.5 million) – BBC News informed.
Henry Aldridge and Son auction house in Wiltshire expected the letter Dated April 10, 1912 It will reach a price of 60,000 pounds.
Letter from Titanic sold. He was hailed as “prophetic”
Media defined the four -page letter as “prophetic”because his sender, writing to a friend, stated that “he would wait at the end of his journey” before he gave judgment on the “beautiful” and “unhealthy” ship, as Titanica was advertised.
The letter dated April 10, 1912, i.e. the day on which he got on board Titanic in Southampton, five days before its sinking after a collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
The author of the letter was one of about 2,200 people (passengers and crew members) on board Titanic sailing on a virgin cruise to New York. In the disaster, which occurred at night from April 14-21, 1912, Over 1,500 people were killed.
The colonel was first -class passengerhe occupied the C51 cabin. He sent a letter when the ship moored at Queenstown in Ireland, on April 11, 1912, and by post in London it was stamped on April 12.
According to the auction house, he achieved the letter The highest price of all correspondence written on board Titanic.
Titanic. Dramatic account of one of the passengers
Description of the sinking of the shipprepared by Colonel Graci, is one of the most famous.
Later the American wrote a book “The Truth About The Titanic” (“Prawda o Titanicu”)which he published in the autumn of 1912. He reported his experiences on board a liner.
The author described how he helped to leave the woman to the launch, he mentioned Strauss older marriagewhich was on board and died together (Izydor Strauss said that “until he saw that every woman and every child on board this ship is in a rescue lamp, he will not enter her”).
When the ship sank, the game came to overturned rescue boathe also helped to climb her to others. As he wrote, more than half of the men who managed to reach Łódź died of exhaustion or cold.
Although Colonel Gracie survived the disaster, his health It suffered seriously due to hypothermia and physical injuries. On December 2, 1912, he fell into a coma, and two days later he died as a result of diabetes complications.
In a posthumous obituary published by the New York Times, the author claimed that The memories of the disaster did not leave the Graci until the last moment. When he loomed – the journalist wrote – he said: “We must put them in Łódź. We must put them all in Łódź!”