This April 13, 1912 letter was found on the body of First Class passenger Alexander Oskar Holverson. Holverson, a successful salesman, had been on a vacation with his wife in Buenos Aires. Mrs. Holverson was rescued but Mr. Holverson perished in the disaster. This letter bears the distinction of being the only on-board letter from a victim that still made it to it’s recipient. Holverson’s mother received the letter after it was recovered from her son’s body.
The letter reads:
My dear Mother – We had good weather while we were in London. It is quite green and nice in England now. This boat is giant in size and fitted up like a palacial hotel. The food and music is excellent and so far we have had very good weather. If all goes well we will arrive in New York Wednesday A.M. I am sending you a postcard of the ship and also a book of postcards showing the inside. We have not had any news since we left New York Jan. 6th so we do not know what has been going on since we left. Mate’s sister was ill when we left and had an operation performed out of New York. Mate had a letter from Mr. Berry at Buenos Aires which stated that she was getting on fine but have not heard anything since. We have been so far away that it has been hard to reach us with mail. Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Astor is on this ship. He looks like any other human being even tho he has millions of money. They sit out on deck with the rest of us and are very democratic. Well I guess I will write more another time.
This letter was auctioned in October 2017 for a record $166,000.
(Image source: Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers)