Letter written onboard Titanic sells at auction for $400,000
What's the story
A historic letter card penned by Archibald Gracie, a prominent Titanic survivor, has fetched nearly $400,000 (₹3.4 crore) at an auction.
The note was written five days before the ship's sinking on April 15, 1912, killing around 1,500 people on its maiden voyage.
It was addressed to the seller's great-uncle and was sold to a private United States collector through the Wiltshire-based auction house Henry Aldridge & Son.
Auction details
Unique lettercard from Titanic's 1st-class passenger
The lettercard, written on April 10, 1912, is thought to be the sole surviving example written by Gracie while he was on the ill-fated ship.
"It is a fine ship but I shall await my journeys end before I pass judgment on her," Gracie wrote.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge had called it an "exceptional museum-grade piece."
The final price was far above the initial estimate of £60,000 for such a prized artifact.
Survivor's tale
Gracie's journey and survival after Titanic disaster
Gracie boarded the Titanic as a first-class passenger from Southampton, where he had cabin C51.
He survived the disaster by jumping from the ship onto an overturned collapsible boat. Other passengers on a lifeboat rescued him, and he was later taken aboard the RMS Carpathia.
Gracie chronicled his experiences in The Truth about the Titanic, one of the most detailed accounts of that fateful night, when he returned to New York City.