A letter written by a passenger on the Titanic describing the “wonderful passage” – hours before the ship hit an iceberg – has sold at auction for $216,343.97.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge says the handwritten note was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder at an auction in Devizes, western England, on Saturday.

The letter was written by second-class passenger Esther Hart on April 14, 1912.

“The sailors say we have had a wonderful passage up to now,” she said in the note to family in England.

Hours later the passenger liner described as “practically unsinkable” hit an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1500 people.

Hart was among about 700 survivors.