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Eerie letter written onboard the Titanic goes up for auction.
The note was written on embossed Titanic stationery by first-class passenger Alexander Oskar Holverson on 13 April 1912, the day before the ocean liner sank.
It is one of the last known letters to have survived the sinking and the last-known letter written on board by a victim.
The note, addressed to Mr Holverson’s mother, reads: “This boat is giant in size and fitted up like a palatial hotel.
“If all goes well we will arrive in New York Wednesday AM.”
Mr Holverson, a successful salesman, had been on holiday with his wife in Buenos Aires and was returning to the US via the UK.
The Titanic struck an iceberg on the evening of 14 April 1912 and sank in just over two hours, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
Mr Holverson did not survive, but his wife did.
The letter was discovered in a pocketbook when the victim’s body was recovered from the Atlantic and returned to his family, along with his other effects.
The note, stained with seawater, mentions the food, music and elite passengers on board the ship – which is extremely rare among artefacts retrieved from the Titanic.
“Mr and Mrs John Jacob Astor is on this ship,” it reads. “He looks like any other human being even though he has millions of money. They sit out on deck with the rest of us…”
American businessman Mr Astor, believed to be the richest man on board the liner, did not survive the sinking.
The letter is being auctioned by Henry Aldridge & Son on Saturday 21 October and is expected to fetch between $79,031 and $105,375.
Agencies/Canadajournal
