Over a century after the R.M.S. Titanic sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, artifacts from the disaster—which claimed the life of 1,500 people—continue to captivate collectors and history buffs. On October 21, 2017, a letter recovered from the wreckage broke a world record by selling for 126,000 British pounds, or about 166,000 U.S. dollars.
The letter comes from Oskar Holverson, a first-class passenger and U.S. businessman who perished in the water. He’d written the letter to his mother on April 13, 1912, the day before the ship hit the iceberg that would take it down. Within a week of the Titanic’s sinking, recovery ships sailed to the wreckage site to collect personal effects and dead bodies, many of which were floating at the
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The recently auctioned letter is also valuable because it describes the ship, the food, and even fellow passenger John Jacob Astor, at the time the richest man in the world. “He looks like any other human being even tho [sic] he has millions of money,” Holverson wrote of Astor. “They sit out on deck with the rest of us.”
Three years ago, the same auction house that sold Holverson’s letter auctioned the last known letter to be written on the Titanic for £119,000. Before that, the auction house sold a letter written by violinist and Titanic band leader Wallace Hartley for £112,000. In contrast to Holverson’s letter, which was reclaimed from his person, Titanic’s “last letter” was carried onto a lifeboat in a survivor’s pocket, and Wallace’s letter was sent at a mail stop in Queenstown, Ireland—now called Cobh—that Titanic made before crossing the Atlantic.
This article was mostly about how they found a letter written by a men writing to his mother, when the police went to pick up bodys and remains fro the titanic they found the letter and gave it to his mother the letter was now bought for about 166,000 dollars and so far it was the mostexspenive letter ever
The letter from Richard Frethorne to his parents, shows the terrible condition the English settlers were in during the early settlement of Virginia. Every settler was dying of a disease as well as starvation. Even strong young men like Frethrone had nothing to eat but pease and lobollie. The further I read the letter, the more desperate the writer wanted his parents or at least for them to send him supplies. By the second letter, he admits that he did not know that his eyes could hold so much water. Not only is Frethrone slowly dying but he is like everyone else in constant fear that of the natives attacking. I found the letter very interesting, because not only was a personal account but it also the writer's loneliness, desperation and strong desire to be in England. Even though Frethrone is dying he still remembers his family and wishes them good health as his slowly deterates.
The first letter opens with R. Walton informing his sister that he is safe in St. Petersburgh. From the first page of Walton’s writing I can see that his relationship with his sister is very close; from the language of his writing I can see that he truly cares about the person who is to receive his letter. On the 2nd page of his letter he states that going to the North Pole has been an aspiration for him since he was young. It states that Walton is a glory-seeker and is not tempted when money is a sacrifice for glory. His 2nd letter addressed to his sister takes place in Archangel where he has hired a vessel and is collecting crewmembers. This indicates that Walton is most likely a member of the upper class. So far, Walton is a somewhat strange individual, I am unaware of what background he comes from but seems to seek thrill and adventure over
Some time has gone by, therefore I have figured out what the strange letter is about. Something about a ship, the Hispaniola or some sorts (Stevenson, 70). It seemed to be talking directly about Jim, saying that they will start sailing… I need to figure out what this is about. As the case may be, the letter may be about the money the captain obtained.
We recently came across an item on a website called The Mighty that we found especially moving. It’s a letter that starts with three simple words: “Dear Car Wreck.” Written by a woman in her thirties named Jessica, it’s a letter to the car wreck that happened when she was a teenager that changed her life and left her in chronic pain. It begins with her description of waking up in the hospital having no memory of the crash that had slashed her face, crushed her legs, broke her ribs, and caused her lung to collapse.
The Titanic was the largest ocean liner in commission (Marshall ch 2). The monster ship was launched on May 31, 1911, and was completed in February of 1912, with a cost of $10,000,000 (Marshall). Officers of the White Star Line say that the Titanic measured around 45,328 tons even though, the registered tonnage of the vessel was estimated at 45,000 (Marshall). Weighing 5,000 more tons than a battleship, the Titanic was 882 ½ feet long, which is about four city blocks (Marshall). Not only was the Titanic the largest liner aloft, but it was also
Many years later after getting home safely , her family encouraged her to write down the accounts of that time. So she wrote a first person accounts of the events. After she died a person bought the letter at an auction. He knew how to speak french and english so he translated it. Part of the letter
He says: “Which meant that the letter was posted on 16 October 1997, which was 18 months after Mother had died” (Haddon 98). These passages show that even though Christopher wants the intrigue of his story to be around the murder of the dog, he has far more important things happening around him and that he has bigger mysteries to solve than this
Over 1198 people died that day. The Lusitania ship was about to leave, one of the biggest ship rides of the year. They didn't know what to do but, one family did. They jumped the overboard because they knew they were going to sink and die. He puts… because he wants the readers to stop reading for a little bit for ether drama,
Furthermore they would have believed that this letter is how they would have been remembered and as we are later told they viewed that their safety almost depended on their letter. In addition the people writing with ‘punctilious care’ could refer to the novel for the reason that as Faulks writes he does so vigilantly because he has not experienced what he is writing about, therefore he needs to choose his language carefully, given the subject is a serious matter.
“ And now, Joyce Williams, I will be leaving you The Great White and envelope. This envelope is something important, so my dear child, open it when you are left alone. Read the directions carefully and good luck with what you will be doing soon, cause with the curiosity that I have given you, this is the time to use it.”
The different between class of rich and poor people. First and second class passengers were free to move around and use the finest facilities of the ship, while those with third class was confined at the lower section of the liner and was not allowed to interact with those staying above. In the other scene we can see that despite Cal's hatred for Jack, Cal gave Rose his jacket as a way to
her diary and from then on began writing her diary entries in the form of a letter, always
The contents of the box pieced together an epic love story. The photographs had crisped with the ocean 's breeze and curled at the edges. The letters tear stained and laced with regret for leaving this woman on the platform that day. Together, the letters and photos told a story of a young man who was drafted out to sea, leaving his lover behind. Years passing, she remained ingrained in his memory, love growing fonder with time, but sadly he grew out of hers. A more recent love letter read, “I have lived long enough to know that the love we shared cannot be replicated”. It was evident that this letter had been written in amid frustration and desperation. The tip of the pen had ripped through the delicate veins of the paper and tears had caused the ink to bleed out. A love so strong had sailed across the seven seas with him, and now we wanted to find her again.
We know this because of the description in the very end “And I´ll keep it with all the others in case you decide to come home”. In this short story, the descriptions also play a big role, but the feelings towards his wife play a much larger role, as the letter is clearly personal in the type of writing. He works as an engineer and is to work on cables lowering the latency between countries. He describes how unimportant the normal life is, as the “small” changes that he makes – isn’t shown as a big deal of modern society “Not a word about any trans-Artic project starting on the beach. And yet somewhere on the globe, they´re talking billions of dollars”. This is a critique of the modern society, whereas people go about their normal sad life’s, billions of dollars are being traded within Cartels, oligarchs, and speculators. The protagonist seems to not want to let go of his wife, even though that she has left him. We are told that this is not the first letter he has sent, and he keeps them at home, in case she one day decides to come
“What’s in it? It has our name on it? Who is it from? Is it a gift? ” Taty babbled. The indignation started to fill my mother's brown eyes. She turned to us and brought a single finger to her closed mouth, signaling us to be quiet. As she turned back around, she grabbed the pile of mail off the kitchen table and walked the 10 paces to her spot on the couch, the cushion closest to the stationary bike.