Postcard sent by doomed passenger to his wife just before he boarded the Titanic goes up for sale

A postcard sent by a doomed passenger who told his wife 'this is the last thing you will hear from me' before he boarded the Titanic has gone up for sale.

The message was written by second class passenger Jacob Milling from his hotel room in Southampton on April 9, 1912, and sent the day before he boarded the ill-fated liner.

The message was written by second class passenger Jacob Milling from his hotel room in Southampton on April 9, 1912, and sent the day before he boarded the ill-fated liner

Mr Milling, an engineer who was travelling to the US to study railway machinery for two months, described to his wife Augusta how he could see the world's biggest passenger ship from his window.

He wrote: 'Dear Augusta! This is the last thing you will hear from me from this side of the Atlantic. I am staying at Banen's Hotel, it's not cheap but comfortable. From my window, I can see the ship in the dock.'

Four days later he sent Augusta a wireless telegram from on board the ship.

He ominously told her: 'All is well, calm weather, the ship is fine...a wonderful trip.'

Just hours after sending the message, the liner struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of more than 1,520 passengers and crew - including Jacob.

The 48-year-old's body was later recovered from the sea and returned to his native Denmark where he was buried.

Mr Milling, an engineer who was travelling to the US to study railway machinery for two months, described to his wife Augusta how he could see the world's biggest passenger ship from his window

The postcard he sent from Southampton has now been consigned for auction by a private collector.

Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers of Devizes, Wiltshire, said: 'This is an exceptional handwritten postcard postmarked 11pm 9th April 1912 and sent by second class passenger Jacob Christian Milling.

'He was employed at Sydfyenske Jernbaner (Southern Fyn Railways) and highly respected for his knowledge and his ability to construct locomotive parts.

'In 1912, he was granted leave for a two-month paid study tour in the United States.

'He wrote the postcard to his wife, Augusta, and it was sent just prior to Milling's departure.

'It contains an eye-witness description of the Titanic sat in port waiting to depart.

Just hours after sending the message, the liner struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of more than 1,520 passengers and crew - including Jacob

'The message has an air of excitement about it as one can imagine Mr Milling sat in his hotel room looking out at the ship waiting to board it.

'Of course his first line of "this is the last thing you will hear from me...." was never intended to be just that but very sadly turned out to be true.

'It most probably was the last thing he wrote to her.

'A few days later he sent Augusta a wireless telegram saying everything was fine. The telegram reached Augusta at the couple's home in Odense only a few hours after Milling had perished in the tragedy.'

The postcard, which has a black and white photo of Titanic on the front, is being sold at auction for £7,000 on November 19.

DISASTER IN THE ATLANTIC: HOW MORE THAN 1,500 LOST THEIR LIVES WHEN THE TITANIC SUNK

The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

More than 1,500 people died when the ship, which was carrying 2,224 passengers and crew, sank under the command of Captain Edward Smith.

Some of the wealthiest people in the world were on board, including property tycoon John Jacob Astor IV, great grandson of John Jacob Astor, founder of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim, heir to his family's mining business, also perished, along with Isidor Straus, the German-born co-owner of Macy's department store.

The ship was the largest afloat at the time and was designed in such a way that it was meant to be 'unsinkable'.

Constructed by Belfast-based shipbuilders Harland and Wolff between 1909 and 1912, the RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat of her time

It had an on-board gym, libraries, swimming pool and several restaurants and luxury first class cabins.

There were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers due to out-of-date maritime safety regulations.

After leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading to New York.

On April 14, 1912, four days into the crossing, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm ship's time.

James Moody was on night watch when the collision happened and took the call from the watchman, asking him 'What do you see?' The man responded: 'Iceberg, dead ahead.'

By 2.20am, with hundreds of people still on board, the ship plunged beneath the waves, taking many, including Moody, with it.

Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, arrived nearly two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water.

It was not until 1985 that the wreck of the ship was discovered in two pieces on the ocean floor.