LETTERS written by a seaman who survived the sinking of the Titanic and its sister ship the Britannic four years later – only to die in a German torpedo attack – are expected to raise up to £20,000 at auction.
Archie Jewell was on board the Titanic on the night of 14 April, 1912, and his writings describe the horror of watching the great ship sink and hearing the cries of passengers drowning in the icy seas.
Four years later, Jewell survived the sinking
of the Britannic. He died in 1917 when the SS Donegal was hit by a torpedo in the English Channel.
Of 2,222 passengers on board the Titanic, 1,517 lost their lives in one of the biggest maritime disasters in history.
Writing to his sister, Jewell, who was paid £5 a month as a lookout on the Titanic, said he would "never forget the sight of that big lovely ship going down and the awful cry of the people in the water, and you could hear them dying out one by one".
He mentions the orchestra playing as the ship went down.
In a four-page letter written in pencil on the stationery of the Red Star Line, he said: "I think it is a shame to let them big boats go to sea with such a small lot of (life] boats, had there been boats enough nearly every one would have been saved.
"If the watertight doors had worked she would not have went down.''
Jewell, who was the first man to give evidence to the inquiry into the disaster, described floating in lifeboat number seven for six hours, surrounded by icebergs and lumps of ice before being picked up by a steamboat.
He said he was still in a "very bad" state after his ordeal, but added that the survivors had been treated "very well" in New York.
In the second letter, 12 pages long, Jewell gave an account of being aboard the Britannic when she was struck by a German mine in the Kea Canal in the Mediterranean, on 21 November, 1916. The ship went down, but only 30 of the 1,066 on board lost their lives.
Jewell jumped into the water and was almost dragged under by the propellers.
He wrote: "There was one poor fellow drowning and he caught hold of me but I had to shake him off so the poor fellow went under." Tessa Milne, manuscript specialist at Sotheby's,
said: "It is very rare to have a letter written by a Titanic survivor and unheard of to have one written by someone who also survived the Britannic. It is very immediate in the way it is written and it gives you a very vivid account of the sinking."
The letters are part of an English literature and history sale at Sotheby's on 17 December.
Five months after writing the second letter, Jewell died serving on the requisitioned passenger steamship the Donegal, which was torpedoed by a German submarine in the English Channel on 17 April, 1917.
He was one of only three Titanic survivors who also escaped the Britannic. Another of them, fireman John Priest, also survived the sinking of the Donegal.
'I shall never forget the sight of that big ship going down'
FROM a letter by Jewell written in New York after the Titanic went down: I was in my bunk when it happened but I was soon on deck. I looked down in the hold and saw the water washing in – she was just over two hours when she went down.
We was very thankful to get on board (the rescue ship] for when it came to daylight there was iceburghs all around us and about 20 miles stretch of small ice. If she had not come when she did we should have drifted amongst the ice and then frozen to death.
I shall never forget the sight of that lovely big ship going down and the awful cry of the people in the water and you could hear them dying out one by one; it was enough to make anyone jump over board and out of the way. I can't help crying when I think about it.
I think it is a shame to let them big boats go to sea with such a small lot of (life] boats; had there been boats enough nearly every one would have been saved. If the water tight doors had worked she would not have went down.
She went down little by little by the bows then at last the stern went right up in the air and she went down straight and then for the crys of the people in the water I shall never forget as long as I live.
We was treated very well in New York and I think they have colected some money for us. They are going to send it home so I gave them my home address so you might get it later on.
From a letter by Jewell after the Britannic was hit by a mine:It made her shake all over. I very soon knew what was up when I saw the water coming in and the smell of powder. Before I knew where I was a man came rushing out of a cabin door right where she was struck and ran right into me and stuck me with his head just over my eye and cut it right open so I was blood all over.
The poor fellow was so frightened he did not know what he was doing. I don't know what he was or if he was saved or not. I ran up to the boat deck and then some one tied my eye up so I was like old Nelson, only one eye.
We started to lower away the boats and then the order was passed around to stop lowering and then they started to move the propellors.
I think they were going to try and run her ashore but she started to go down by the head very quick so we started lowering the boats again and then she took a big hit to starboard and we had a hard job to get the port boats out.
On arriving in Southampton: We could have eaten an horse, now the worst … the order came we was to go to a rest camp for the night, so off we goes 6 hundred and 50 hungry men to the rest camp only 5 miles to walk and up hill all the way.
We arrives to this beautiful place at midnight to find that we had to sleep under canvas and on boards on the top of this high hill it was that cold we could not sleep there … and there was nothing for us to eat or drink in the morning … so that is the way good old england treats you after your ship is put to the bottom.
The full article contains 1178 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
