Note 2 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
The King (so his secretary wrote to me) was "much surprised and gratified" at hearing how the toast of his health had been received by the foreign passengers on an English ship. I sent on the letter from S. Paulo to the captain, who said it should be framed and hung up on board, but I never heard if this was done. Edward VII. died less than six months later, and on December 30, 1917, the Aragon, whilst on transport service in the Mediterranean, was torpedoed (together with her escort H.M.S. Attack), a few miles from Alexandria. The ship went down within half an hour of being struck, with a loss of more than six hundred lives.