A postcard written by the Titanic’s wireless operator could sell for up to $ 15,000

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Written by Program Ali, CNN

A postcard written by a member of the RMS Titanic crew a few weeks before it sank is up for auction and could fetch $ 15,000.

Jack Phillips, the ship’s main wireless operator, wrote the postcard in March 1912 to his sister, Elsie, while in the port of Belfast, Ireland, where the Titanic was built. Construction was completed in late March and left the pier on April 2, 1912.

The correspondence, written on a 5.5-inch by 3.5-inch postcard, features an image of the Titanic during its construction and is stamped in Belfast.

The card says in part, “Very busy working late. I hope to leave on Monday and arrive in So’ton (Southampton) on Wednesday afternoon. I hope you are doing very well.”

The message ends with the words “Love, Jack.”

The postcard shows a picture of the Titanic in Belfast.

The postcard shows an image of the Titanic in Belfast. Credit: Courtesy auction RR

“Phillips often chose postcards that represented the ship he was serving on,” said Bobby Livingston, Boston-based executive vice president of RR Auction, which sells the card.

“According to our research, only five of the 300 postcards retained by Elsie had anything to do with the Titanic, and only two featured the ship as a frontal photograph, making it an exceptionally rare example,” Livingston said in a statement.

Livingston says Phillips is a forgotten hero who saved many lives when the Titanic began to sink. Phillips worked tirelessly to send messages to other ships asking for their help in rescuing passengers and crew.

On the night of April 14, 1912, in the North Atlantic, the Titanic attacked an iceberg that would have killed more than 1,500 passengers and crew. According to RR Auction, Phillips, 25, left the boat when water flooded his feet. He ended up with a lifeboat lying down and overturned, where he would die exposed to a strong cold.

The Phillips postcard auction will close on April 14th. RR Auction says the postcard is estimated to reach $ 15,000.

This is not the first sale of Titanic relics. In 2015, a first-class menu for the luxury boat’s lunch was sold at auction for $ 88,000 along with a letter to a man who allegedly bribed the crew of a lifeboat to paddle off the boat instead. to rescue more people for $ 7,500.

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