LONDON — A letter written by an American first-class passenger aboard the Titanic sold on Saturday at auction for 126,000 pounds, a record price for a note written by someone on the ill-fated ocean liner.

Alexander Oskar Holverson, a salesman, wrote the letter to his mother on April 13, 1912, on embossed Titanic stationery and tucked it away in his pocketbook.

In it, Mr. Holverson describes a “giant” ship “fitted up like a palacial hotel.” He also mentions seeing the millionaire John Jacob Astor sitting on a deck of the vessel:

“He looks like any other human being even tho he has millions of money.”

In the most poignant mention, Mr. Holverson writes, “If all goes well we will arrive in New York Wednesday A.M.”

The next day, the British passenger ship hit an iceberg and eventually sank, killing more than 1,500 people.