A newspaper depicting the agonizing wait faced by the families of those on board the Titanic discovered at the back of a wardrobe in England after more than a century.

According to information from CNNthe aftermath of the tragedy, in which more than 1,500 people lost their lives when the ship sank in April 1912, is shockingly captured in images featured in the 112-year-old newspaper.

Dated April 20, 1912, the front page of the British newspaper The Daily Mirror shows two women in Southampton, the English port city from which the Titanic set sail, waiting for the list of survivors to be sent.

The headline of the newspaper reads: “One of the thousands of tragedies that made the sinking of the Titanic the most horrific in world history.”

When the RMS Titanic set sail on April 10, 1912, it was the largest passenger ship in service and considered “unsinkable.” Just four days later, the Titanic’s maiden voyage turned into an international tragedy when the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 p.m. of April 14. The ship, which sank in less than three hours, did not have enough lifeboats for the approximately 2,220 people on board.

The newspaper was discovered in a cupboard during a house clearance by auctioneers Hansons, where it is believed to have been kept for more than a century.

The first page reads:

“Of the 903 crew members of the Titanic, only 210 have survived. This means tragedy upon tragedy for Southampton, where the majority of the men lived, for in this terrible disaster the mothers lost their sons, the women their husbands, and the young girls their loved ones.’

“Yesterday was a terrible day in the history of the city, though it put an end to all agony. The list of survivors was posted outside the White Star offices, and mothers and wives hoping against hope eagerly read the names, only to find that their worst fears had come true.

“To some, of course, the catalog contained glorious news, but they hushed their joy in the face of the terrible grief of their friends and neighbors.”

Titanic

Inside, the newspaper opens to a double page with a photo gallery of those on board.

Charles Hanson, owner of auction house Hansons Auctioneers, said in a statement on the company’s website that the newspaper was discovered during a “house clearance” at a property in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

“The newspaper was found thanks to our elderly client’s grandmother,” Hanson said. “He kept newspapers marking important events such as the coronation of King George V in 1911, as well as the sinking of the Titanic.”

Hanson described the paper, which sold for £34 (around €40) this week, as “a valuable piece of social history”, adding:

“This finding reminds us of the many grieving families and friends, the heartbroken mothers, fathers and husbands.”