Poignant last letter of Titanic steward to wife reveals fears about ‘jinxed’ liner (Express, 20 June 2020)
A letter written by a steward on Titanic in which he told how he feared the doomed voyage would not be its “crowning trip” is tipped to fetch £18,000 at auction. Edward Stone penned the prescient note on White Star Line-headed paper to his “darling wife” Violet shortly before the liner left Queenstown in Ireland bound for New York on April 11, 1912. He also referred to a near-miss with another liner, SS New York, in Southampton earlier which almost curtailed its maiden voyage. Edward, 30, a second-class cabin steward, told Violet: “I don’t think this will be the crowning glory.”
Titanic steward Edward Stowe mailed the letter to his wife from Queenstown (now Cobh). His body was recovered and interred in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The letter and the envelope that it came in were preserved and is now being auctioned off by a relative. The auctioneer is Henry Aldridge. At the time of this writing, word has not been received how much was raised at the auction over the weekend.