2005-11
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/31/2005
A touching and poignant letter from, "Henry Goodwin Bose" 3pp. 8vo., Steamer Manhattan, off Cape Hatteras, Nov. 24, 1898. Outstanding content from a frightened man whose ship is about to become part of the "graveyard of the Atlantic" after the ship begins to flounder in a storm. Resolved to die, he writes his relatives concerning the exhausting task of trying to save the ship that was filled with women and children, in part: "If you should ever get this letter, it ought to be dear to you .. .it began to get cloudy very fast [the] day before yesterday and the captain said he thought there was going to be a severe storm. It began ... and has been increasing steadily and does not seem to give any indications of abating. The water is coming in faster than we can pump it out. I am now taking a very short rest while another man is taking my place at the pump. I write this with a cool a head ... there is a large hole just sprung in the stern. I am trusting fully in God ... some of the passengers are wailing around here like mad. I don't blame them, for it is an awful sensation that comes over you when you think that death is right at hand and you cannot escape it, to think that you have got to go to the bottom of the sea and have that for a grave, it makes me shiver all over. .. give dear Ella my love, and tell her I have not forgotten her even in this hour of death which is certainly approaching. God be with us all in time of trouble ... ". Incredible content with original transmittal envelope included. Lightly' toned with some spotting and splits at the folds, else very good.
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.