( CNN ) An indignant letter written by a Titanic survivor to a friend in New York sold at auction this week for $ 11,875 , according to RR Auction in Boston . The remarks were written on Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon 's personal letterhead and dated May 27 , 1912 -- six weeks after HMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage -- and seem to indicate that she and her husband , Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon , did n't receive such a warm welcome home after their rescue . `` According to the way we 've been treated by England on our return we did n't seem to have done the right thing in being saved at all ! ! ! ! Is n't it disgraceful ? '' Lady Duff-Gordon wrote . The prominent London fashion designer and her husband , a Scottish baronet , escaped by boarding Lifeboat 1 , which transported 12 passengers despite having capacity for 40 . Fewer than one-third of the more than 2,200 people aboard Titanic survived , hundreds fewer than could have lived if all of the lifeboats had been deployed and filled . The couple were the only two passengers asked to testify during the British Wreck Commissioner 's inquiry into the sinking . Their testimony , along with allegations that Cosmo had bribed the crew to row away faster rather than try to rescue others , made them popular fodder for tabloids . Lifeboat 1 became known as the `` Money Boat . '' Rumors that the Duff-Gordons tried to deter the crew from making other rescues were never corroborated , but Lady Duff-Gordon later said her husband was `` brokenhearted over the negative coverage for the rest of his life , '' according to a news release from RR Auction . `` We remain fascinated by the Titanic tragedy and will for years to come , '' RR Auction 's Bobby Livingston said . A cup and saucer from the Titanic sold for $ 13,750 . Also auctioned was a letter Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia sent to a former Vogue cover model he met at a New York party in 1980 . The undated letter was postmarked June 22 , 1982 . In the letter , which sold for $ 32,500 , Garcia asks the woman , `` Pardon my handwriting , this is the first letter I 've written in years . '' He includes a sketch with the words , `` Grateful Dead just played our first outdoor show of the year at a place called the Greek Theatre . '' The historic Berkeley , California , music venue would become a home base for the band . Garcia died in 1995 . The auction item that pulled in the most was a signed 1965 Mosrite Ventures Guitar that belonged to Johnny Ramone . It sold for $ 71,875 . Violin played as Titanic sank sells for $ 1.7 million .
Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon 's letter to a friend , written just weeks after the Titanic sank , sells for nearly $ 12,000 . She tells friend of `` disgraceful '' treatment after rescue , says RR Auction , which sold the letter . She and her husband were haunted by allegations about their conduct as the ship sank in April 1912 . A rare letter from Jerry Garcia sells for $ 32,500 ; Johnny Ramone 's guitar fetches nearly $ 72,000 .