A historic letter penned by a Titanic passenger just days before the ship’s tragic sinking has sold at auction for a staggering £300,000 (around $400,000) — smashing its expected value by five times.
The letter, written by Colonel Archibald Gracie, was auctioned at Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire, UK, where it was purchased by an anonymous bidder. Originally estimated to fetch around £60,000, the handwritten note has now set a new record for Titanic-related correspondence sales.
Described as “prophetic” by historians, Col Gracie’s letter reveals his thoughts about the Titanic, noting he would “await my journey’s end” before fully judging the grandeur of the ship. Dated 10 April 1912 — the day Gracie boarded the vessel in Southampton — the letter was posted the following day when the Titanic briefly docked in Queenstown, Ireland. A London postmark dated 12 April also appears on the envelope. 
At the time, the Titanic carried over 2,200 passengers and crew bound for New York. After the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, more than 1,500 lives were lost in what became one of history’s deadliest maritime disasters.
Col Gracie, a first-class passenger staying in cabin C51, survived the tragedy. In later writings, particularly in his book The Truth About The Titanic, he detailed his harrowing escape. According to Gracie, he managed to climb onto an overturned lifeboat amidst the freezing waters. Sadly, he noted that over half of the men who initially reached the lifeboat later perished due to cold and exhaustion.
Although he lived through the disaster, Col Gracie’s health deteriorated severely afterward due to hypothermia and injuries sustained during the ordeal. He eventually fell into a coma on 2 December 1912 and passed away two days later from diabetes-related complications.
The auctioneers confirmed that this letter achieved the highest-ever price for Titanic correspondence, marking another powerful reminder of the ship’s enduring legacy and the human stories behind it.
