1775 letter from Bristol by Falmouth packet, carried through the British blockade of New York harbor. War broke out in April 1775 with the battles of Lexington and Concord. American attacks on British ships soon followed, and led to withdrawal of scheduled packet service to New York. The last advertised mail from Falmouth departed on […]
Archives for November 2015
Liverpool to Kennebunk 1835
One of America’s most beautiful postal markings – Philadelphia’s full-rigged ship, used on incoming ship mail for destinations beyond the port. This letter was sent from Liverpool on the 8 October 1835 sailing of the ship Pocahontas, owned by Brown’s Line of Baltimore but assigned to the Cope Line of Philadelphia. On arrival at Philadelphia […]
Philadelphia to London 1835
The endorsed ship George Washington of the Blue Swallowtail Line had already sailed, so the New York post office instead sent this letter via the next available ship – Black X Line’s Montreal. After the War of 1812-15, full-rigged American ships began to dominate the North Atlantic trade. Within only a few years mail could […]
Liverpool to Philadelphia Special Arrangement
Rated in Philadelphia rather than Boston, its port of entry, under special arrangement with the Liverpool postmaster. Businessmen in Philadelphia and other eastern cities complained about delays in mail arriving via Boston, due to sorting and rating. After an 1843 request to the Liverpool Postmaster by the U.S. Postmaster General, from June 1844 to late […]
Liverpool to Philadelphia Retaliatory 1848
The retaliatory rate against Great Britain, in this example applied in Philadelphia in July 1848. In June 1847, when the Ocean Line began the first American transatlantic packet service, Great Britain charged the full incoming steamship rate (24 cents) on each letter. A year later the U.S. responded to the British one-shilling discriminatory rate […]
