The postcard is stamped April 11, 1912, just a few days before theTitanicsank. Henry Aldridge & SonA historic postcard stamped April 11, 1912, is about to go to auction. On its back is a hand-scrawled message from British businessman Richard William Smith, expressing excitement about his imminent cruise to the United States. The front features an image of the boat set to take him there: the Titanic.It is an incredibly powerful and poignant message, Andrew Aldridge, managing director of the auction houseHenry Aldridge & Son, tellsBBC News Steve Silk. He had no idea of what was coming over the horizon approximately 80 hours later.Smiths missive was postmarked in Ireland, Titanics final stop before venturing out into the Atlantic Ocean. About three days after the postcard was sent, theWhite Star Line ship collided with an iceberg and sank about400 miles from Newfoundland, killing Smith and more than 1,500 other passengers. Have had a fine run around to Queenstown, wrote Smith in the note.Just leaving for the land of stars and stripes. Henry Aldridge & SonFor just the first day of the Titanics maiden voyageApril 10, on which it departed from Southampton, England, then stopped at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, IrelandSmith was accompanied by a family friend named Emily Nicholls. She mailed the postcard for him after disembarking in Queenstown (now called Cobh), while Smith stayed onboard.Have had a fine run around to Queenstown, wrote Smith on the card, which was addressed to a woman named Olive Dakin in Norwich, England. Just leaving for the land of stars and stripes.As Aldridge tellsCNNs Lianne Kolirin, Smith was a tea broker who had various interests in the U.S. He sailed first class on the doomed ship.Most postcards written by Titanic passengers were either stamped with Queenstown or the ships own postmark, per BBC News. But Nicholls sent Smiths card from the city of Corkabout ten miles inland. Aldridge expects it will fetch between 6,000 and 10,000 at auction (roughly $7,600 to $12,600). The Titanicarriving in Queenstown (now called Cobh), Ireland Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsIt will be of interest to two different kinds of people, Aldridge tells BBC News. Titanic specialists, of course, but also stamp collectors who like postmarks. This one, dated Cork 3:45 p.m., April 11, 1912, is exceptionally rare.The postcard is just one lot in Henry Aldridge & Sons upcoming Titanic, White Star and Transport Memorabilia auction on November 16. Other items up for sale include archival photographs, a Titanic victimspocket watch and anotherpocket watch that three Titanic survivors gifted toArthur Henry Rostron. Rostron was the captain of RMSCarpathia, which arrived to rescue the Titanics passengers from the icy Atlantic several hours after the boat sank.The auction house stages two Titanic sales every year. At its April auction, a photograph depicting an iceberg, which may have been the iceberg that sunk the vessel, sold for 17,500 (about $22,000). However, some artifacts brought in much more: Agold pocket watch belonging to John Jacob Astor IV, the Titanics richest passenger, went for 1.175 million (roughly $1.4 million).The postcardinked in faded cursiveis one of the upcoming auctions more touching objects. As Aldridge tells CNN, This is one of the last things that Mr. Smith wrote.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Artifacts, Auctions, Death, England, History, Ireland, Letters, Ships, Shipwrecks, The Titanic