Titanic ‘burial’ letter to raise £25,000 at auction

The letter, dated May 7, 1912, was sent from White Star Lines to Christopher Moody, the brother of 24-year-old officer James Moody, of Scarborough, who died after the Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage the previous month.

The company asks for a £20 deposit - the equivalent of £2,100 today - to return his body to England and state that Mr Moody would also have to meet the remaining costs from there.

The letter, from parent company Ismay Imrie & Co, read: “We have your further letter of the 6th instant, and while we will be prepared to transport the remains of your brother across the Atlantic to either Liverpool or Southampton we regret that it is not possible for us to do any more.

“Should you after further consideration desire the remains of your Brother to be returned will you kindly telegraph us in the morning at the same time sending us a deposit of £20 for any expenses and land charges on the other Side and we will at once cable New York asking then to arrange this if practicable.”

The company suggests that Mr Moody’s remains be buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but they offer to send his family “a photograph of the tombstone”, if they want one.

 The letter from the the owners of the Titanic to the family of officer James Moody.

When the letter was sent, Mr Moody’s body had not been recovered, and the parent company would have known this as all remains were catalogued.

The remains of Mr Moody, who helped passengers into the lifeboats while declining a space for himself, have never been found.

The letter is due to be sold at the weekend at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire and is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £25,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “The irony of this letter is Officer Moody’s body was never recovered, which further illustrates the callous nature of the letter.”