Written by Survivor Colonel Archibald Gracie
"One of the Most Detailed Accounts of the Titanic Disaster"
A letter written by a survivor of the ill-fated passenger ship RMS Titanic, which sank after colliding with an iceberg in 1912, was sold at auction for more than 500 million won. The author of the letter was a first-class passenger on the Titanic and is known to have written the letter on board shortly after departure.
According to a report by The Guardian in the United Kingdom on April 26 (local time), a letter left by Colonel Archibald Gracie from the Titanic was recently sold at a Wiltshire auction hosted by Henry Aldridge & Son for 300,000 pounds (approximately 578.13 million won). This amount is six times higher than the auction house’s initial estimate of 50,000 pounds (about 96.35 million won).
Colonel Gracie, who wrote the letter, was a first-class passenger on the Titanic. The letter was addressed to a European ambassador whose identity remains unknown. At the time, Colonel Gracie described the Titanic as a "wonderful ship," but said he would "reserve final judgment until the journey is complete."
The letter was later postmarked at Queenstown, Ireland (now the area known as Cobh), where the Titanic docked, and was delivered to the recipient at the Waldorf Hotel in London on April 12. Two days later, at midnight on April 14, the ship struck an iceberg, and it sank the following day.
Colonel Gracie, a survivor of the Titanic, was a promising officer who graduated from the United States Military Academy. He became well-known for writing a book about his experiences after miraculously surviving the Titanic disaster. In the book, titled "The Truth About the Titanic," he described in detail what he and other passengers did on board before facing their final moments.
On April 14, the day of the disaster, Colonel Gracie first played ball games and swam in the Titanic’s pool. While resting afterward, he woke up around 11:40 p.m. and was informed shortly thereafter that the ship’s engines had stopped working.
Just before the Titanic sank, Colonel Gracie helped women and children board lifeboats and handed out blankets. When the Titanic struck the iceberg and began to sink, he himself was thrown into the sea. He managed to stay afloat by holding onto a wooden plank, later found a cork raft, climbed onto it, and endured for several hours before finally being rescued.
During the escape, Colonel Gracie witnessed dozens of men rushing toward the rescue boats. However, more than half of them died, either freezing in the cold night air or succumbing to exhaustion. Some reportedly slipped and fell after losing their footing on the ship’s keel.
Henry Aldridge & Son emphasized that Colonel Gracie’s account is "one of the most detailed descriptions of the events of that evening."
After the disaster, Colonel Gracie returned to New York, United States. However, eight months later, in December of the same year, he passed away after suffering from several illnesses. At the time, his family claimed that he died because he was unable to recover from the shock of the Titanic tragedy.
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