Last known letter written on the Titanic sells at auction
Screenshot
"Well, the sailors say we have had a wonderful passage up to now."
So goes the last known letter written aboard the ill-fated Titanic. Auctioned today through Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, the letter sold for £119,000, or $200,000.
Written by survivors Esther Hart and her seven-year-old daughter Eva, the letter is the only known one dated Sunday, April 14 — the day in 1912 the ship hit an iceberg and sank into the Atlantic Ocean. Hart's husband, Benjamin, gave her his coat to keep warm, and the letter was in his pocket, the BBC News reported.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Benjamin died, along with more than 1,500 other people, when the ship sank. --Sarah Eberspacher
Making sense of the week's political news, delivered every Wednesday
Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.