LETTERS which tell the story of a passenger on the ill-fated Titanic fetched £19,129 when they went under the hammer today.

Businessman Charles Jones, who worked for Colgate toothpaste company in New York, was returning to the United States after a trip to Britain to buy sheep when he died on the Southampton liner's maiden voyage in 1912.

The letters went for nearly double their £10,000 estimate when they were sold at Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset, to an American telephone bidder. The price included the buyer's premium.

Mr Jones wrote a note on the day the luxury liner set sail from Southampton to his friend James Foot, a Dorset farmer from whom he had bought the sheep.

The letter, on headed White Star Line paper, said: ''Just had lunch and a cigar and feel fine...

''I want you to realize that I most truly appreciate all you have done and are doing to make my visit pleasant and hope to return the favour sometime.'' Mr Foot received the letter days after the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, killing Mr Jones along with more than 1,500 others.

The letter and further correspondence between his boss James Colgate and Mr Foot, with US newspaper cuttings about the tragedy, were also sold.

Witness AH Barkworth, who jumped into the sea after the Titanic hit an iceberg, is quoted in a cutting saying: ''Jones and Gee were standing by, with arms on the rail, looking down. I imagine they were preparing for death.'' Mr Colgate sent a series of telegrams to Mr Foot including one sent on April 16 which said: ''No news fear the worse.'' Mr Jones' housekeeper Elizabeth Mellinger and her teenage daughter were second class passengers but survived the disaster because women and children went into the lifeboats first.

In one letter, Mr Colgate tells Mr Foot that Mrs Mellinger and her daughter Madeleine had arrived safely.

''I took them immediately to my house, and they are still there.

''Both seemed well, but yesterday morning when I cabled, I had received word that Mrs Mellinger seemed to be feeling the reaction and was somewhat stunned.'' Mr Colgate added: ''They had not seen Mr Jones since Sunday afternoon. Not a word of any kind has been heard from him, and we can only conjecture that he met his death like the man he was.

''Mrs Jones is badly shaken but wishes to return to her home.'' The sheep made it to the States on a later crossing and Mrs Mellinger later returned to Britain before making a new life in Canada.

Mr Foot's great-granddaughter Penny Ems said: ''We only found these papers after my father died and we were going through things.

''My son opened the envelope and spotted the Titanic paper. My father was a keen historian and I don't think he knew about them.

''I would imagine my grandfather put them in the envelope and they have been there ever since.

''I think Mr Jones had been over to the UK before and knew my great grandfather James Foot. He sold sheep all over the world and the letters show that the pair were very friendly.'' Deborah Doyle from Duke's said: ''The story contained within these documents is very moving.

''Mr Colgate is keen to send all the news back to James Foot.

''There are telegrams that show the receding hope of finding Mr Jones alive, then the newspaper articles from the Bennington Evening Banner with accounts of the disaster.'' Mr Jones' body was later recovered and buried.