Titanic Survivor's Letter Sells for $400K at Auction

A letter written by first-class Titanic passenger Colonel Archibald Gracie aboard the ship on April 10, 1912, has sold at auction for £300,000 ($399,000), far exceeding its initial estimate. The letter, addressed to a friend, contains an eerily prophetic line in which Gracie writes, 'It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey's end before I pass judgment on her.' Gracie survived the sinking of the Titanic by climbing onto an overturned lifeboat and later authored 'The Truth About the Titanic,' one of the most detailed survivor accounts of the disaster. The letter is believed to be the only one known from Gracie written onboard the Titanic, making it a rare and highly valued artifact. Auctioneers described the correspondence as an exceptional, museum-grade piece, with its sale drawing significant attention due to both its historic context and Gracie’s prominence among survivors. The Titanic disaster ultimately claimed about 1,500 lives, and Gracie himself died later that year from health complications related to his ordeal.