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WEST INDIES MARITIME MAIL - PRE 1842

SHIP LETTERS

Prior to the Dummer packet and for most of the Eighteenth Century merchantmen and an
occasional ship of the Royal Navy were the only means of communicating with the U.K. Traditionally
masters were paid Id per letter but it was not until 1711 that the Post Office was allowed to collect Id
per letter on mail landed in the U.K. Prior to that the only charge was the inland mileage rate. Ship
Letter hand stamps to identify the port at which the mail was landed were introduced in the 1860’s.
In 1799 the Ship Letter Office was opened in London and Postal Agents were appointed in many
overseas locations. The crown mark was supposed to identify letters from such sources and letters were
charged a higher rate of 4d per sheet. Elsewhere letters continued to be put on board by either
forwarders or the letter writer, without any involvement of the Post Office. The two tier scheme was
abandoned in 1815 in favour of an increased payment of 8d. Throughout the West Indies the Post Office
played little or no part in the despatch of such letters so they carry no marks, except in the bigger
colonies where there was an inland charge. Consignee mail went free and despite the penalties a fair
amount of mail was smuggled into the U.K. Most mail was landed at Bristol, London, Liverpool, and
Glasgow or on the south coast. Elsewhere mail is relatively scarce.
The exhibit follows a chronological sequence with information on rates in red.
References:-
Robertson Revisited - Colin Tabeart
For the Port & Carriage of Letters - David Robinson.

A letter which preceded the Dummer packets, dated 17th May 1701 from Barbados. At this
date the use of Ship Letter marks had not been developed and the Master’s gratuity of Id
could not legally be recovered by the Post Office. There was no charge for sea postage and no
indication as to where the cover was landed. The rate was 6d which suggests a double letter
from a port more than 80 miles from London. The cover was back stamped by a Bishop Mark on
21st July, a transit of 64 days. Ex Hill.