A Year After The Titanic Sank, A Grieving Family Received A Truly Eerie Letter

When their “unsinkable” vessel became doomed, many passengers aboard the RMS Titanic were asleep in their beds, enjoying the night with friends, or thinking about the new lives that awaited them in America. But in the panic that followed, no one saw the man who grabbed a pen and began to write a message to the world. That message would eventually be delivered to the man’s grieving family — and it’s truly heartwrenching to read.

A terrifying decision

In the two hours and 40 minutes between the ship striking the iceberg and sinking into the ocean, the more than 2,000 people aboard the Titanic scrambled in panic. And one of the people forced to make impossible decisions on the ship that night was a young Irishman named Jeremiah Burke. The 19-year-old had purchased a ticket to America to visit his sisters in Boston, but fate had other ideas. 

He wasn’t alone

The collective panic of that moment must have been nearly impossible to bear. Thankfully, Jeremiah was traveling with his 18-year-old cousin Hanora Hegarty, so they at least had each other. And the trip had been a big deal for Jeremiah. His family had gathered to give him and Hanora a warm send-off, and as a parting gift, his mother had given him a little bottle of holy water to keep him safe on his journey.

Third-class experience

The pair had each paid the modern-day equivalent of $860 for their third-class tickets. And in their short time on the ship, Jeremiah and Hanora became friendly with a fellow passenger named Eugene Daly. A skilled musician, Eugene was a piper from Cork, Ireland, who treated the crowd to songs. He was hoping to build a new life for himself in the U.S.

First-person account

We know a bit about what Eugene experienced. At the precise moment the Titanic hit an iceberg, he had been in bed. Meanwhile, the passengers in steerage were having a ball. Eugene described “a great deal of dancing and singing” in a letter. And the account he later gave to the British newspaper The Daily Sketch was vivid and unsettling.