Titanic’s Forgotten Love Letter Hints at Hidden Threats Just Before Tragedy Struck
Four days before the Titanic’s tragic plunge into the icy Atlantic, a ship steward named Richard Geddes penned a letter to his wife that’s equal parts tender love note and historic eye-witness account. Picture this: the mighty Titanic, just minutes out of Southampton, nearly sideswiped by a smaller vessel thanks to the eerie suction from its own propellers. Geddes, with a mix of admiration and sympathy, mused about the Captain’s “trying time” as visions of Belfast danced in his head. It’s a letter that’s not only dripping with the everyday hopes of a seaman far from home but also captures a near disaster that could’ve rewritten history itself — talk about adding a little “what-if” spice to the Titanic saga! And guess what? This fascinating piece of the past is heading for auction, complete with original White Star Line stationary and Geddes’ poignant words. Ever wonder what it felt like to watch history’s most infamous ship almost collide before its fateful iceberg encounter? Well, buckle up — here’s a glimpse from the heart of the doomed voyage. LEARN MORE
“I could see visions of Belfast it must have been a trying time for the Captain,” Richard Geddes wrote to his wife, four days before the Titanic sank.
Cliff/FlickrA love letter written by Titanic steward Richard Geddes to his wife retells the ship’s close mishap with a smaller boat right after undocking.
Richard Geddes, like many other ship stewards that left their families to work at sea, wrote endearing letters to his wife. Geddes, however, was one of the 1,500 passengers aboard the RMS Titanic before it sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 1912.
The newly discovered letter details a close-call collision the Titanic had with a smaller ship right after its departure from the Southampton port in England and will be up for auction.
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According to the Belfast Telegraph, auctioneers from Henry Aldridge and Son believe that the letter could receive up to £18,000 ($23,279) when it is sold at auction in Wilshire.
Andrew Aldridge said that the contents of the letter and the stationary that it was written on made it incredibly valuable.
“It’s an exceptional letter on many levels,” Aldridge said. “First and foremost it was written on board the Titanic, it has its envelope, the lot also contains official paperwork relating to Mr. Geddes and, finally, the content is superb, describing the near-miss that Titanic nearly suffered that would have changed history.”
The seaman’s letter was written on original Titanic stationary that was provided on the ship and still has its original White Star Line envelope. On April 10, 1912 – a mere day after the Titanic left port – Geddes wrote to his wife to describe a near-collision with the SS City of New York.
The two vessels came within feet of each other as the Titanic left the docks. The suction from the propellers of the Titanic caused the City of New York’s ropes to snap, releasing it aloft and nearly causing a major collision between the ship and the 882-foot-long Titanic.
Addressing the letter to “My dearest Sal”, Geddes wrote of the near hit: “We got away yesterday after a lot of trouble… I could see visions of Belfast it must have been a trying time for the Captain.”
According to Encyclopedia Titanica, electricians Albert George Ervine and Alfred Middleton, who were perched atop the massive vessel’s fourth funnel, witnessed what could have been an earlier disaster for the Titanic.
