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Lot 31
LUSITANIA Autograph letter unsigned [from Nellie Huston] to "My dear Ruth", giving news of her voyage on the Lusitania, 'On Board the Cunard R.M.S. Lusitania', 1 to 6 May 1915
24 June 2015, 11:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £4,750 inc. premium
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LUSITANIA
Autograph letter unsigned [from Nellie Huston] to "My dear Ruth", giving news of her voyage on the Lusitania, an unfinished letter written over the course of a few days and telling of life on board ship and talking about family matters, mentioning that the boat is crowded due to them taking on passengers from the Cameronian, that she is enjoying the entertainments and writes amusingly about the difficulties of getting into her top bunk ("...had to ring for the Steward to get me some steps. They seem to be short of everything so I had to wait quite a while. He tried to persuade me to jump in but I'm too heavy behind..."), admitting that she is feeling rather "twichy" her last entry on Thursday 6th May, the day before the disaster, mentioning that they have had all the lifeboats swung out ready for emergencies ("It's awful to think about but I guess there is some danger..."), noting that there are quite a few "distinguished people" on board ("There is a Vanderbilt and one or two bankers"), ending "...if it wasn't just for the worry I could say we've had a lovely trip", 7 pages, discolouration and waterstaining, torn across centre fold, in a black morocco presentation case, gilt lettering, 8vo, 'On Board the Cunard R.M.S. Lusitania', 1 to 6 May 1915
Footnotes
'IF IT WASN'T JUST FOR THE WORRY I COULD SAY WE'VE HAD A LOVELY TRIP' - the poignant last line of an unfinished letter discovered in a handbag washed up in the debris of the passenger liner Lusitania, six days after its sinking by a German u-boat off the coast of Ireland on 7th May 1915. The letter was forwarded to the Daily Mail who published it in the hope that the writer's identity would be discovered from names mentioned in the letter. She was identified by her father William Flowers Huston as Nellie Huston, aged 31, from Wallasey who was returning from an 11 month stay with her cousins in Chicago, having been sent there to help get over a broken engagement.
The letter was later cited in the press to help exonerate the Captain, William Turner, from charges of negligence, as evidence that the lifeboats were prepared in readiness for emergencies. In the event, due to the ship listing so badly to one side, only six of the forty eight lifeboats were launched successfully, and those that were launched inflicted further casualties in the process. The fact that the boat was so crowded, as mentioned by Nellie, also hampered attempts to escape.
Travelling as a second class passenger she gives a lively account of life on board ship from the day she left port until the day of the sinking, although she is clearly preoccupied by the warning given by the German Embassy before the sailing that u-boats were patrolling in the area and passengers crossed the Atlantic at their own risk. This is a remarkable survival of the sinking, the catastrophic event which brought the United States into the First World War and served to strengthen anti-German feeling even further among the allies. To put it in the words of a contemporary newspaper cutting included with the letter: '...the impression is given that the ink was hardly dry before the tragic and dastardly event sent the liner to her doom...'. Miss Huston's letter has remained in the family since its discovery but is quoted at length in Erik Larson's book Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, New York, 2015.