http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_TITANIC?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

By MEERA SELVA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) -- The descendants of a surgeon who died on the Titanic nearly 100 years ago are appealing for a benefactor to purchase a soon-to-be-auctioned letter he wrote from the doomed ship - and to return it to the city where the vessel was built.

A two-page note John Edward Simpson wrote to his mother days before the ship sank in April 1912 is to expected to fetch at least $50,000 at the auction later this week in Long Island, New York.

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In the letter, Simpson, 37, said his cabin was larger than the accommodation on board theTitanic's sister ship the Olympic, where he had previously worked. He also complained that he had found one of his trunks unlocked and that some money had been stolen from his pocketbook.

The surgeon, who treated second- and third-class passengers, signed off: "With fondest love, John."

The letter was brought ashore at Cobh (now called Queenstown), Ireland - the Titanic's last port of call before the ship set sail for America. It was dispatched to Simpson's mother, Elizabeth, who lived on Belfast's Dublin Road

Three days later, he died along with 1,500 others after the ship struck an iceberg.
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