Rare Titanic letter penned by one of the youngest victims of ship’s sinking expected to fetch up to £30k

The letter written on the infamous Belfast-built vessel was from teenager Thomas Cupper Mudd from Huntingfield in Suffolk, who was among the approximately 1,500 people who perished when the ship sank on its maiden voyage back in April 1912.

The letter – which was written on Titanic branded paper and is being sold on Forum Auctions as part of their Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper lot – was sent by the 16-year-old to his mother from the ship’s final port of call in Queenstown, now Cobh in the Republic.

In the letter, Mudd describes the White Star Line ship as a “magnificent palace”, adding they have experienced “very rough weather” and that “the ship is rolling a good bit”.

The letter states: "Dear Mother & all at home. I am now taking the opportunity of sending you a few lines about how we started from Southhampton [sic]…

“We have been having very rough weather but the ship is so steady you would hardly know it was moving, was it not for the throbbing of the engines.

“We are now nearing Queenstown.

"The ship is like a magnificent palace. The lounge & dining hall are very beautiful. We are having excellent food.

“I have made friends with a young English gentleman and he is very nice indeed.

“The beds are very nice also with plenty of covering to keep warm also they have spring mattresses.

“Excuse writing as the ship is rolling a good bit. Now I must close.

“With love to all. I remain, your loving son Tom.”

The auction listing describes the letter as a “rare and remarkable letter, seemingly unpublished, serving as a lasting testament to the most famous maritime disaster in recorded history”.

According to Forum Auctions, the teenager was one of thirteen children, with two of his older brothers having already emigrated to America by 1912.

The 16-year-old bookkeeper purchased a second-class ticket aboard the maiden voyage of the Titanic for £10 before he tragically perished in the sinking, with his body – if it was recovered – never identified.

Speaking about the letter, Forum Auctions Deputy Chairman and International Head of Books, Rupert Powell, said: “Sent by a young man to his mother in which he enthusiastically describes the opulence and magnificence of the Titanic, this letter is a rare first-hand testament to the awful tragedy which befell the ship a matter of days later.

"Young Thomas Mudd was only 16 years old and looking forward to joining his two brothers to start a life in America when he perished. This letter, posted from Queenstown, Ireland survived.”

The launch of the Titanic at the Harland & Wolff shipyards on May, 31, 1911, was watched by a reported 100,000 at the city’s docklands at 12.13pm that day.

The Titanic notoriously sank on her maiden transatlantic voyage 11 months after her launch, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives, when she struck an iceberg.

The sinking remains one of the worst maritime disasters of modern times.

The auction for the letter will take place on Thursday March 27.