The History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876 - John Hendy (1909)

CHAPTER VIII.
COLONIAL AND FOREIGN PACKET SERVICE.
With the application of steam to the propulsion of ships on long voyages, the mail
service became not simply rapid, but also regular, so that the mercantile community
could reckon with the utmost certainty on the punctual departure of mails at the
appointed times, and also calculate with greater precision the times of their arrival.
These excellent results, which were of considerable value to the nation both politically
and commercially, were mainly attained under a system of subsidies and through private
enterprise.
The Post Office Packet Service to all parts of the world, except France and Belgium,
was, until 1840, carried on entirely from one port, Falmouth, by Government vessels.
In that year a contract was made with Samuel Cunard, for the conveyance, by steam
vessels, of the mails between this' country and the United States and North American
Provinces, and it was also then decided that Liverpool should be the port for the
American packets. The first vessel, the Britattnia, belonging to the new service left the
Mersey on the 4th July, 1840 (Independence Day); she was a paddle-wheel steamer,
207 feet long and 740 horse-power, having a speed of about i>\ knots an hour. She is
said to have carried the heaviest mail ever sent from this country up to that time, and
that consisted of twenty-seven bags of letters (containing about 20,000 missives) and
forty-two bags of newspapers !
At that time there was no other regular line of steamers plying between Great
Britain and America, and the undertaking was considered to be attended with considerable
risk. The contract, which was for seven years, has since been repeatedly renewed and
extended, the service being performed in an admirable manner. Liverpool, which had
hitherto been largely connected with the American ports by fast sailing vessels, now
became the chief packet office for the American mails. The earliest postmark wTiich
has come under my notice in connection with the American service is that shown in
Fig. 344.
Shortly after the service commenced a new type of date-stamp was introduced
.xAiR/c
Fig. 344. 7th Jan., 1841. Fig. 345. Fig. 346.
(Fig. 345) a few years later this type of mark was slightly altered to Fig. 346, which at
;
a later date was again altered to Fig. 347. A "Paid" date-stamp was also in use.
Fig. 348.
59