Titanic letter up for sale at LI auction

LONDON -- The descendants of a surgeon who died on the Titanic nearly 100 years ago are appealing for a benefactor to purchase a soon-to-be-auctioned letter he wrote from the doomed ship -- and return it to the city where the vessel was built.

A two-page note John Edward Simpson wrote to his mother days before the ship sank in 1912 is expected to fetch at least $50,000 at the auction this week by Philip Weiss Auctions in Oceanside.

Simpson's great-nephew John Martin said yesterday that the family can't afford to buy it, but would love to see it back in Belfast. "It would be great if a donor or benefactor could be found who would purchase and return it to Northern Ireland for public display," he said.

Simpson's letter, dated April 11, 1912, was written on notepaper headed RMS Titanic and is addressed to his mother, who was living in Belfast. In the letter, Simpson, 37, said his cabin was larger than the accommodation on board the Titanic's sister ship the Olympic, where he had previously worked. He also complained that he had found one of his trunks unlocked and that money had been stolen from his pocketbook.

The surgeon, who treated second- and third-class passengers, signed off: "With fondest love, John." The note was brought ashore at Cobh (now called Queenstown), Ireland -- the Titanic's last port of call before the ship set sail for America. It was dispatched to his mother, Elizabeth, who lived on Dublin Road in Belfast. Three days later, he and 1,500 others died after the ship hit an iceberg.

Martin said his family had held on to the letter for generations, but Simpson's 81-year-old daughter-in-law gave it to a Titanic enthusiast in Holland 15 years ago. The family lost track of the letter until learning it is to be auctioned.