Titanic passenger's letter to 'wifey' auctioned for $85,000 in Britain

The letter, written by Adolphe Saafeld on three sides of the vessel's stationery, was written five days before the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, claiming more than 1,500 lives.

An unnamed British museum paid the record sum for the letter, which was one of 350 lots of White Star Line memorabilia sold by Henry Aldridge and Son, a Wiltshire auctioneer.

"The content is superb. It gives a real first person perspective of what life was like on-board, through the eyes of a first-class passenger, right down to the food, the size of the cabin and the decoration," Andrew Aldridge, an auctioneer, was quoted as saying by the Economic Times.

"The weather is calm and fine, the sky overcast. There are only 370 First Class passengers. 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 reads.

"But for a slight vibration, you would not know that you are at sea," the passenger notes.

The Titanic, with 2,200 people on board, departed from the British port of Southampton on April 10, 1912, for its first and last voyage from Europe to the U.S. On April 14, it struck an iceberg in the Atlantics and sank in the early hours of April 15. At least 1,496 people were killed in the world's greatest maritime tragedy, and some 306 bodies were recovered. Only 706 people were rescued, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.