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 […]
Philadelphia to Valparaiso 1858
Letter to a sailor aboard U.S. Frigate Sherromack, on station off the coast of Chile, via British packet from Panama to Valparaiso. This letter was sent on 4 February 1858 in consular mail from Philadelphia, the sender having prepaid the U.S. 10-cent rate to Aspinwall plus 24 cents for British packet from Panama to […]
