British Maritime Cover

1834

November 3, 1834, folded letter with most of contents missing, originating in Lisbon, Portugal, and addressed to Liverpool. This letter was posted at the British packet office in Lisbon, where the straightline handstamp, LISBON, was applied (faintly struck in the upper right corner). It was carried by the Falmouth mail packet, H.M. Royal Navy wooden-paddle steamship "Confiance" from Lisbon (November 3) to Falmouth (November 9), a steamer used extensively in the packet service both to the Mediterranean and to the Iberian Peninsula. At Falmouth the letter first was rated for 5-shilling 2-pence postage due, a double-rate letter, then corrected to a single rate of 2-shilling 7-pence. This was done in red ink by an inspector, whose initials appear next to the rate marking. Above the marking is a second set of initials, perhaps those of a second inspector. The postage due consisted of 1-shilling 7-pence packet fee from Lisbon to Falmouth and 1-shilling UK inland fee, for a distance of 377 miles from Falmouth to Liverpool. For packet letters at this time the normal inland fee for that distance of 1-shilling 1-penny was abated by 1-penny.