Rare Titanic letter describing 'wonderful' journey sells for $200,000

LONDON -- A letter written by a passenger on the Titanic describing the "wonderful passage" -- hours before the ship hit an iceberg -- has sold at auction for 119,000 pounds ($200,000).

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said the handwritten note was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder at an auction in Devizes, western England, on Saturday.

The price, which includes a fee known as the buyer's premium, topped the pre-sale estimate of 100,000 pounds.

The letter was written by second-class passenger Esther Hart on April 14, 1912. "The sailors say we have had a wonderful passage up to now," she said in the note to family in England.

Hours later the passenger liner described as "practically unsinkable" hit an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1,500 people.

Hart was among about 700 survivors.

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  This undated image released by Henry Aldridge And Son Auctioneers shows part of a letter written by Esther Hart and her seven-year-old daughter, Eva, as they sailed aboard RMS Titanic in April 1912, shortly before the ship struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean with 1,500 souls. (Provided / Henry Aldridge And Son Auctioneers)