POSTCARD FROM TITANIC’S ILL-FATED RADIO OPERATOR BEING SOLD AT AUCTION
Boston — A postcard written by the Titanic’s senior radio operator just weeks before the ocean liner sank in the North Atlantic has been put up for auction.
The card, with a glossy image of the ill-fated ship on the front, was written by Jack Phillips to his sister, Elsie Phillips, in March 1912 while awaiting the ship’s first sea trials, according to RR Auction in Boston.
“Very busy working late. Hope to leave on Monday & arrive Soton Wednesday afternoon. Hope you quite OK. Heard from Ethel yesterday,” he wrote. It’s signed “Love Jack.”
It is postmarked Belfast, where the Titanic was built. “Soton” is a contraction of Southampton, the English port city from where the Titanic departed on its maiden voyage. It sank in the early morning hours of April 15.
Phillips stayed at his post after the Titanic struck an iceberg to send calls for assistance until water was lapping around his feet, according to RR Auction. He made it off the ship after being told by the captain that he had done his duty, according to his biography in the British National Archives, but died of exposure.