A rare letter that gives an insight into the cosseted life first class passengers enjoyed on board the Titanic is expected to fetch up to £25,000 (US$38,000) at an auction.
The letter, from perfumer Adolphe Saafeld to his “wifey,” as he calls her, describes fine lunches, long dinners, satisfying cigars and strolls around the ill-fated liner.
The letter, dated April 10, 1912, the first day of the voyage, reads: “Dear Wifey, Thanks for your wire ... The weather is calm and fine, the sky overcast.”
“So far the boat does not move and goes very steadily. It is not nice to travel alone and leave you behind. I think you will have to come next time,” the letter says.
“I have quite an appetite for luncheon. Soup, fillet of plaice, a loin chop with cauliflower and fried potatoes, Apple Manhattan and Roquefort cheese, washed down with a large Spaten beer iced, so you can see I am not faring badly,” it says.
“I had a long promenade and a doze for an hour up to 5 o’clock. The band played in the afternoon for tea ... anything and everything in the eating line is gratis,” it says.
Saafeld also wrote of how the Titanic was nearly involved in a collision with another liner while at Southampton docks — but seemed more worried that this delayed his dinner.
“Owing to our little mishap at Southampton we were all one hour late and had dinner only at 7.30 instead of 7 o’clock as usual ... I have a small table for two to myself,” the letter says.
“I made a very good dinner and had two cigars in the smoke room and shall now go to bed as I am tired. But for a slight vibration, you would not know that you are at sea,” it says.
“A kiss for you and love to all from your loving husband, Adolphe,” the letter concludes.
The three-sided letter is on Titanic-headed notepaper and was posted from Ireland to his wife, Gertrude, in Manchester.
It is coming up for auction on April 17 at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, western Britain.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “We have come across other letters and postcards that were sent from the Titanic but this is easily the best due to its content.”
“The vast majority of letters just give a few lines like how fine and big the boat was and ‘wish you were here’ and things like that,” he said.
“But the Saafeld letter goes into fine detail about the life of a first class passenger on board,” Aldridge said.
“The letter is straight from the horse’s mouth and is giving the reader his own impressions of the ship. It is a primary historical source,” he said.
When the Titanic struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic on the night of April 14, 1912, Saafeld was in the smoking room. He was able to scramble into lifeboat No. 3.
He returned to Britain and died in 1926.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was