Long before texting existed, people wrote letters to one another to express their deepest thoughts and emotions with the people they loved. Sometimes, an old letter can be as simple as learning what that person did with their day. Other times, it’s a way to look into the hearts and souls of the people that lived long ago. Here at History Collection, we have pulled together some of the most heartbreaking letters from the past.
Letter from a Titanic Survivor Describing that Fateful Night (Part 1)
A Titanic survivor named Nellie Walcroft wrote a letter to her friend Clara, describing what happened the night the ship sank on April 15, 1912. This letter was written when Nellie was safely back in New York City. The original letter was three pages long, but we have shortened it for the sake of this article.
“My dearest Clara,
Just a line or two just to let you know we are quite safe. I am glad to say my cold is the only ill effect so far. To see that magnificent ship like a floating palace go down in the sea was an awful spectacle.
We had 70ft to be let down in the boat and when we were going down the steerage passenger jumped in the boat. And our officer, seeing our danger, jumped in the boat and shot the men to keep them from swamping us. When nearly to the bottom, the ropes letting the lifeboats down refused to act and they had to cut the rope and we dropped. I thought that was my last minute. There were 59 in our boat. After the ship had gone down you should have heard the cries of those poor men and women. I could never describe it. It seemed to last about 2 hours- that terrible cry of help…