Bandmaster’s Titanic letter sells for €109,000

A letter written by the bandmaster of the Titanic who carried on playing as the doomed ship sank has sold at auction for £93,000 (€109,000).

Wallace Hartley, 33, has became a key figure of the disaster as — together with his seven other 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 Apr 10, 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 and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Hartley, from Colne in Lancashire, wrote: “Just a line to say we have got away all right. It’s been a bit of a rush but I am just getting a little settled.”

The band, and Hartley in particular, have been depicted as the ship’s heroes in virtually every genre, including postcards, song sheets, books, stage and films, for carrying on playing while the Titanic went down.

The letter is written on adjoining sheets of on-board Titanic stationery with company watermark and is hand-dated by Hartley on Apr 10, 1912. It also bears the red embossed White Star Line house burgee.