The Portrush Letter

For Titanic history enthusiasts, The Portrush Letter may be an interesting look at some of the senior officers of the doomed ocean liner. And it was written by my great-grandfather, John Smith, to his brother Hugh. Encyclopedia Titanica writer Senan Molony recently updated his entry on this letter with additional information and photographs provided by my dad (who is quoted at the bottom).

Originally, no one knew the first name of the writer of this somewhat famous letter, just that he was a man named Smth writing to his brother Hugh who lived on Main St. in Portrush, Northern Ireland - where I went on my vacation last March - until my dad made contact with Molony. John Smith was a chief steward at a club that serviced all of the officers and many other crew from the Titanic which gave him opportunity to become well acquainted with all of them in the year or so leading up to the tragedy.