Letter sent the day before the sinking of the Titanic found more than a century later

It will have taken more than a century to resurface.

Hidden amid seaweed and accidentally discovered by walkers in the Canadian Bay of Fundy, a wax-sealed glass bottle contained neither a treasure map nor a sailor's last wishes but a simple greeting.

A missive of great banality except for one detail: thrown into the sea aboard the

, it is signed on April 13, 1912. Either the day before the sinking of the luxury liner, which sank into the abysses of the Atlantic during the night from 14 to 15, taking with it nearly 1,500 passengers.

To read also: This postcard sent from the Titanic and signed "Love, Jack" will be auctioned

“I throw this bottle into the sea in the middle of the Atlantic.

We are due to arrive in New York in a few days.

If anyone finds it, tell the Lefebvre family in Liévin ”

, it is written on the sheet of paper.

Cut in two to fit into the bottle, the letter is signed by a certain Mathilde Lefebvre, whose closest relatives have been identified in France, in Aix-en-Provence.

His great-great-cousin, Jacques Lefebvre, was amazed to learn that part of his distant family had disappeared during the sinking of the

This detail of history had been lost over the generations, despite the presence of a commemorative plaque in Liévin.

Mathilde Lefebvre's letter, dated April 13, 1912. Jacques Lefebvre

After having carried out the investigation, he discovers with his wife, Hélène, that his great-uncle, Franck Lefebvre, had left the Old Continent in 1911. Set out to conquer the American dream, in the mining sector of the New World, the A worker had embarked with four of his eight children, before being joined the following year by his wife, Marie, and his four other children, including Mathilde, 13 years old when she crossed the Atlantic. 3rd class passengers on board the ship, Marie, Mathilde and the other Lefebvre children aged 9 to 4 all perish off the coast of Newfoundland, during the sinking of the

in 1912. Undoubtedly devastated by the news of the tragedy, which intervenes on the day of his birthday, Franck Lefebvre is finally expelled from the United States by the authorities who suspect him of having entered the American territory illegally.

Read also: Titanic: the story of the survivors published in

in 1912

“It was a shock for me to discover this family drama. The second shock was ... the letter ”

, testified Franck Lefebvre for France 3 Régions. Passionate since, by this dramatic part of his family history, the Aixois pays homage every April 13 to his ancestors who disappeared in the accident. Only a copy of the letter is in his possession today, the original document having been sent to a Quebec laboratory for analysis, in order to ensure the authenticity of the object. Contacted by the discoverers of the bottle, the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick had confirmed that the paper, despite its exceptional state of preservation, was indeed of a type that was available at the time, recounted the Canadian daily

in 2017. While awaiting the conclusions of the scientific analysis of the letter, the Lefebvre couple hope that it will escape the auction - very fond of anything that touches the

near or far

- and that it can be exhibited, one day maybe, in a museum. A wish well received by the Cité de la Mer, in Cherbourg, which has already contacted the family.

Inaugurated with great fanfare in April 1912 in Southampton, the

left British port on the 10th for New York for what was to be her maiden voyage. A luxury liner of the White Star Line, the vessel collided with an iceberg while crossing the Atlantic and dark in the middle of the night. The accident claimed the lives of nearly two-thirds of its passengers and caused a stir on both sides of the ocean. Many years later, the drama and the discovery of the wreckage inspired American filmmaker James Cameron to his spectacular blockbuster drama

, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. A film that the Lefebvre couple is not about to see again.

, said Hélène Lefebvre for France 2.

.