A TOUCHING letter by an RMS Titanic victim to his wife and unborn baby about his time in Belfast has gone up for auction in England.
The moving four-page dispatch from Sidney Siebert to his wife Winnie, written in the Public Library in Belfast, ends: “Kiss baby for me tell her daddy wants to see her and I want to see my other little girl as well.
"Good night my own beloved with all the heart’s love.”
Mr Siebert died along with 1,516 others when the Titanic struck and iceberg and sank on the fateful night of April 14, 1912.
When he wrote the letter, the 29-year-old was in Belfast awaiting the Titanic’s delivery to Southampton – where the superliner set out from on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 before stopping off in Cork.
Mr Siebert was part of a skeleton delivery crew tasked with putting the Titanic through its sea trials and delivering her to Southampton for an official departure.
He was rescued from the icy waters of the Atlantic four days later by the survivors of Lifeboat No. 4, but died shortly later.
Siebert’s widow, Winnie, who was pregnant at the time of the disaster, gave birth to a daughter Constance Winifred later in 1912.
RMS Titanic during sea trials in Belfast Lough in 1912 (Picture: Topical Press Agency/Getty)In his last letter to her, Mr Siebert explained that he wasn’t much of a fan of Belfast, but that the infamous Irish rain hadn’t helped.
In classic cursive handwriting, he told her: “I have bought a little note paper so that I could drop you a few more lines than I could get on a postcard.
“As I told you we had a very trying journey here... we were over 11 hours in the train and then straight on to the steamboat for another eight hours and nowhere to sleep all that time and she was a rather old boat we came over by.
“I hope you are still keeping well. I am glad to say I am alright... the air here is very bracing it makes me as hungry as anything.
“I don’t think a great deal of the City it is not so good as Soton [Southampton] although there are several fine buildings here, but the town itself is very dirty and it has been raining ever since we got here.
“I am writing this in the Public Library, a very nice building but not up to date English books and papers seem very scarce here.
Sidney Siebert's moving letter from Belfast to his wife in England is expected to fetch up to £8,000 (Picture: Henry Aldridge & Son)“Also another thing which strikes one as curious is that there are no cabs or taxis here.
“They all have these jaunting cars as sort of a shelf arrangement on two wheels and they look most decidedly uncomfortable. I have not tried one yet and have no intention of doing so.
“I expect we are leaving here for our trials on Monday and for home on Tuesday and I can tell you I shall be glad after that long time at home I don’t like being away at all.
“But I suppose I must not grumble as I have had a good time while I was home and must not get on and earn some money.
“Kiss baby for me tell her daddy wants to see her and I want to see my other little girl as well.
"Good Night my own beloved with all the hearts love.
“Your own ever loving & Davoted (sic) Husband.”
The exceptionally rare letter is expected to fetch up to £8,000 when it goes under the hammer on Saturday in Devizes, Wiltshire.
For more information on the auction of the letter and Sidney Siebert, click here.
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