Titanic survivor's 'prophetic' letter up for auction in Wiltshire

BBC News

23-04-2025

A "prophetic" letter written by one of the most well-known survivors of the Titanic disaster is expected to fetch up to £60,000 at auction.Colonel Archibald Gracie's letter, written during the voyage, said he would "await my journey's end" before he passed judgement on the "fine ship".He also wrote the book The Truth About The Titanic, recalling his experience onboard the ill-fated liner which claimed 1,500 lives when it sank on 15 April 1912.Col Gracie survived the sinking after scrambling onto an overturned lifeboat, but his health never recovered and he died eight months later.
The high-profile passenger's correspondence is dated 10 April 1912 and postmarked Queenstown, in Ireland, on the 11 April and London on the 12 April.It is written over four sides to the seller's great-uncle, who was an acquaintance of Col Gracie."It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey's end before I pass judgment on her," he said."The Oceanic is like an old friend and while she does not possess the elaborate style and varied amusement of this big ship, still her seaworthy qualities and yacht-like appearance make me miss her."The letter is believed to be the only example from Col Gracie in existence from on board the Titanic. It will go under the hammer at Henry Aldridge and Son, of Devizes in Wiltshire, on 26 April. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said letters from survivors as high profile as Col Gracie rarely come to market and this piece has never been offered for sale.
'A fine ship'
"This letter is one of the finest of its type known," said Mr Aldridge."Not only is it written by one of the most important first-class passengers on Titanic, Colonel Archibald Gracie."[but] The letter itself contains the most prophetic line: 'It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey's end before I pass judgment on her'."Five days later Titanic was at the bottom of the North Atlantic."
Col Gracie boarded the Titanic at Southampton on 10 April, and was assigned First-Class cabin C51. He reportedly spent much of the voyage chaperoning various unaccompanied women and reading books from the first-class library. On the night of the sinking Col Gracie had gone to bed early, intending to get up the next morning to play squash.He awoke to a sudden jolt as the Titanic struck the iceberg shortly before midnight, and began helping women and children into lifeboats.As the stern vanished below the surface, Col Gracie clung to the upturned lifeboat along with a few dozen other men. He later wrote that more than half the men who had originally reached the lifeboat either died from exhaustion or cold, quietly slipping off the keel during the night.
As dawn broke, Col Gracie returned to New York City aboard the rescue ship Carpathia, where be began writing about what he had been through.His health was severely affected by the hypothermia and physical injuries he suffered during the sinking.He fell into a coma on 2 December 1912, and died of complications from diabetes two days later. His book was published in 1913 under the original title, The Truth about the Titanic.