How This Titanic Survivor’s Letter Is Worth $400K

A calm moment before history’s greatest storm. Would you ever pay $400,000 for a letter?

Well, someone just did. And not just any letter, this was a personal message written aboard the RMS Titanic, just days before the ship vanished beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

On April 10, 1912, Colonel Archibald Gracie IV boarded the Titanic in Southampton, settling into his first-class cabin C51. 

As a gentleman of society, Gracie quickly found himself playing the role of a chaperone. He looked after a group of unaccompanied women, Helen Churchill Candee, three Lamson sisters, and Edith Corse Evans. 

This article is based on a storytelling video originally created by Collectors Abode.

But before that tragic night, Gracie wrote a letter on Titanic stationery and mailed it during the ship’s short stop in Queenstown, Ireland. It was postmarked in London on April 12.

In the letter, he wrote:

It is a fine ship… but I shall await my journey’s end before I pass judgment.

Three days later, at 11:40 PM on April 14, Gracie was jolted awake. The Titanic had struck an iceberg. He hurried to help the women he had been protecting, guiding them to lifeboats. 

Sadly, at the end, among those women, Edith couldn’t make it, while the others survived.

He even lent Second Officer Lightoller his penknife to help cut free the collapsible lifeboats. He worked tirelessly, helping others even as chaos grew around him.

As water surged over the decks, Gracie made a desperate leap toward the bridge, managing to grab hold as the ship tilted violently. 

He was sucked under by the sinking vessel, but somehow managed to resurface beside an overturned lifeboat, Collapsible B. 

He climbed aboard with a small group of men, clinging to life in the freezing dark.

Many others were not so lucky. His close friend J. Clinch Smith disappeared into the ocean that night, never to be seen again.

Gracie survived that night but was never the same. As a diabetic, the hypothermia and stress deeply affected his health. 

He returned to New York and began writing his detailed memoir, “The Truth About the Titanic,” which remains one of the most important eyewitness accounts of the disaster.

He died just eight months later, on December 4, 1912, never fully recovering. His last words?

We must get them into the boats. We must get them all into the boats.

The very letter he wrote before the disaster was recently auctioned by Henry Aldridge & Son in the UK. 

Expected to sell for £60,000, it sparked a bidding war, finally selling for £300,000 ($400,000).

It is now the most expensive Titanic letter ever sold.

Why? Because it isn’t just a letter. It’s a time capsule. A man’s quiet thoughts are unaware of the nightmare to come. A voice that still echoes over a century later.

If you’re ready to own a story that still moves hearts after 113 years, here are some collectible recommendations you can start collecting:

• The Truth about the Titanic, by Colonel Archibald Gracie – eBay
• The Truth About The Titanic – Amazon
• Titanic Surviving Officers W Signatures Picture – eBay
• Colonel Archibald Gracie Tribute Piece – eBay
• RMS Titanic Archibald Gracie Letter to Louis Ogden – eBay