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Shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg roughly 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Two and a half hours later, at 2:20 a.m., the ship sank with approximately 1500 people still on board. This letter, written on Carpathia stationery by first-class passenger Doctor Washington Dodge, is a vivid account of the sinking that describes the Titanic's final hours. It is one of the earliest, most immediate, and compelling accounts of the disaster. In addition, the carelessness of Dodge's handwriting offers a glimpse into his state of mind as he penned his testimony.
Dodge, a prominent doctor, banker, and politician from San Francisco, boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10 with his wife Ruth and son Washington Dodge Jr. His description of the sinking was written within days after the disaster, as the Carpathia ferried the Titanic survivors to New York. Carpathia passenger Doctor Frank H. Blackmarr began soliciting narratives from various passengers, including Dr. Dodge. He assembled a scrapbook of firsthand accounts and used them to lecture about the sinking.