Among the artifacts from the Titanic that are set to be auctioned off this month, including the ship's last surviving lunch menu, is a letter related to one of the disaster's most infamous survivors.
A handwritten letter written by the secretary of Scottish aristocrat Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, a man who was branded as a coward by many, is set to be auctioned off at the Lion Heart Autographs auction house in Manhattan on September 30.
Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, his wife Lady Lucy, their secretary Mabel Francatelli, as well as nine other wealthy passengers were able to secure spots on the hastily-launched Lifeboat Number One, which had a capacity of 40 people, according to The New York Daily News.
Upon rescue, they Scottish landowner and his wife were questioned by Scotland Yard. Many were angered by the fact that he admitted to promising money to the lifeboat crew in order for him to have a spot on the boat, instead of allowing women and children to go in first.
Though Duff-Gordon was eventually exonerated by a British Board of Trade inquiry, which concluded that the money he offered was a charitable donation, the incident became a scandal, with many branding the Scottish aristocrat a coward, reports the Telegraph.
Many have even stated that the scandal turned the Scottish aristocrat into a recluse.
The letter's contents provide a great insight as to what happened to the survivors of the ill-fated ship's Lifeboat Number One.
"I am afraid our nerves are still bad, as we had such trouble and anxiety added to our already awful experience by the very unjust inquiry when we arrived in London. Lady Gordon's mother is with us and she would so much like to meet you being one who shared our boat," part of the letter said.
The handwritten letter is expected to sell for between $4,000 to $6,000. It was written on paper from the Plaza Hotel and dated on October 12, 1912.
