Letter from Titanic sells for £93,000

A LETTER written by the bandmaster of the Titanic, who carried on playing as the doomed liner sank, has sold at auction for £93,000.

Wallace Hartley, 33, has became a key figure of the disaster as – together with his seven band members – he carried on playing until the very last moments. The violinist, who travelled as a second-class passenger on Titanic, wrote a letter to his parents as the ship set off from Southampton on 10 April, 1912.

Experts estimated the letter would fetch around £50,000, but a bidding frenzy saw the hammer go down at £93,000 at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire on Saturday.

Hartley, from Colne in Lancashire, wrote: “This is a fine ship & there ought to be plenty of money on her. I’ve missed coming home very much & it would have been nice to have seen you all if only for an hour or two, but I couldn’t manage it.

“We have a fine band & the boys seem very nice. I shall probably arrive home on the Sunday morning. We are due here on the Saturday. I’m glad mother’s foot is better.”

Hartley did not survive the sinking and his body was later recovered and returned to his home town of Colne, where he received a large funeral.