Ear: Gomez

The Titanic just can’t seem to stay out of the news of late. On June 30, a handwritten letter by Uruguayan passenger Ramon Artagaveytia Gomez, dated April 11, 1912, and mailed from Queenstown, Ireland, at the beginning of the maiden voyage, sold at auction for $12,000.

A snippet of the letter, from Encyclopedia Titanica, says: “I closed my eyes and went onboard in this huge ship. One of the carriers took my suitcase, and brought it to third floor. We went to the dining room. Saloon C. My cabin is very comfortable. It is heated by electricity. It is on during the night because it is very cold …”

Ironically, he also wrote of how he believed the new wireless telegraph would make traveling by sea safer — an important feature to him, since he was still suffering “terrible nightmares” after surviving a ship sinking.

“You can’t imagine, Enrique, the security the telegraph gives. When the America sank, right in front of Montevideo, nobody answered to the lights asking for help. The ones that saw us from the ship Villa del Salto, did not answer to our light signals.

“Now, with a telephone on board, that won’t happen again. We can communicate instantly with the whole world.” Sadly, the telegraph wasn’t much help; by the time help arrived at the Titanic, many had already perished.

His body was found in the North Atlantic about a week after the sinking, and was sent back to Montevideo, Uruguay, where he was buried on June 18, 1912. (Photos: invaluable.com)