Titanic.- Mudd (Thomas Cupper, one of the youngest victims of the sinking of the Titanic, 1895-1912) Autograph Letter signed on board RMS Titanic to his mother, bifolium, 4pp., "On Board R.M.S. Titanic" headed paper with red White Star Line burgee, 200 x 250mm., April 11th 1912, "Dear Mother & all at home. I am now taking the opportunity of sending you a few lines about how we started from Southhampton [sic]...We have been having very rough weather but the ship is so steady you would hardly know it was moving, was it not for the throbbing of the engines. We are now nearing Queenstown. The ship is like a magnificent palace. The lounge & dining hall are very beautiful. We are having excellent food. I have made friends with a young English gentleman and he is very nice indeed. The beds are very nice also with plenty of covering to keep warm also they have spring mattresses...Excuse writing as the ship is rolling a good bit. Now I must close. With love to all. I remain, your loving son Tom", photographic postcard of Thomas Mudd with embossed studio stamp of Maddison & Hind of St. Ives & Huntingdon to lower corner, ink manuscript note "Thomas Mudd (Tom) of Huntingfield and Halesworth Suffolk" to verso, letter and photograph presented together within one mount with verso of each partially exposed (letter with some words to p.2 & 3 hidden beneath the mount), both held with archival polyester clear corner tabs, letter with old folds with minor splitting to extremities, some signs of toning to edges, handling creases to both letter and photograph, a few scuffs and nicks to photograph, unexamined out of frame, modern box frame, 505 x 385mm.

⁂ A rare and remarkable letter, seemingly unpublished, serving as a lasting testament to the most famous maritime disaster in recorded history. One of thirteen children, Thomas Cupper Mudd was born in Suffolk to Thomas and Elizabeth Coe Mudd of Huntingfield. Two of Thomas' older brothers had already emigrated to America by 1912. His brother James was the first to leave, sometime in 1907, settling in Radnor, Pennsylvania where he worked as a gardener, his brother George following in 1911. Thomas, working as a bookkeeper, booked a second-class ticket aboard the maiden voyage of the Titanic for £10, 10s (ticket number S.O./P.P. 3), which set sail on 10th April 1912. He wrote this letter to his mother while onboard a day later from Queenstown, Ireland, the last port of call before the ship's fateful collision in the final hour of 14th April. Thomas Mudd perished in the sinking, and his body, if recovered, was never identified. At only 16, he was one of the youngest victims of the Titanic disaster.