Titanic operator's 1912 postcard to sister set for £15,000 to £20,000 auction

The postcard

Jack Phillips, the Titanic's senior wireless operator, wrote a postcard to his sister Elsie while the liner was docked at Southampton on 6 April 1912. The card is addressed to Miss Elsie Phillips in Godalming, Surrey, and shows a photograph of the ship on its front. Its message thanks her for a letter, mentions a trip to Cowes the previous day and promises another note before the crew sails. Henry Aldridge and Son, an auction house in Devizes, Wiltshire, will offer the postcard on 21 November.

Phillips and the sinking

The Titanic left Southampton on 10 April 1912 on its maiden voyage, bound for New York, and was then the largest passenger vessel in the world. It sank in the early hours of 15 April, with around 1,500 lives lost. Phillips, aged 25, stayed at his post as the ship went down, sending wireless distress calls and helping to coordinate rescue efforts. After water rose around his feet, he abandoned the ship and reached an overturned collapsible lifeboat, where he later died of exposure. The auctioneer said Harold Bride, the junior wireless operator, always spoke of Phillips as 'the man who saved us all'.

What the auctioneer said

Andrew Aldridge called Phillips one of the true heroes of the disaster and described the card as one of the rarest postcards of its type. He also said Phillips had kept in frequent touch with Elsie. Aldridge placed particular weight on the timing and the image of the card.

“This card holds particular significance as it was written on 6 April, 1912, while Titanic was docked in Southampton, and contains an image of the ship.”

The message itself is brief, a thank-you for her letter and a line about the weather.

Condition and estimate

Aldridge said the postcard is estimated to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000 at auction. Other reports put the top figure at £20,000. The auction house grades the card as very good to fine. Its surface shows faint dirt marks and discolouration, a date stamp covering part of the text, slight bends and small wear at the corners. The photograph side carries postal marks, light rubbing and a crease along the lower right edge.

Low estimate15,000

High estimate20,000

Low estimate

15000 GBP

High estimate

20000 GBP

Data from the article text

Wider market for Titanic relics

In April 2026, a life jacket used by first-class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli when she boarded lifeboat number 1 sold at auction in England for £670,000. Its starting price had been £350,000. The buyer, from the United States, bid by telephone and was not identified. The Phillips postcard goes under the hammer at the same auction house on 21 November.