Today in Postal History

 

Haiti to France
October 10, 1868

Unfortunately, I don't know when this folded letter was mailed in Port-au-Prince.
I have chosen to list it under the date when it arrived
in Liverpool after its voyage across the Atlantic.

The sender is J. Framooz & Co. in Port-au-Prince.

This letter's route would have been overland from Port-au-Prince to
Jacmel on Haiti's southern coast.
Jacmel had been a packet agency since 1840.
A British Packet Agency was established there in March, 1866.

A British Caribbean feeder packet picked up the mail in Jacmel.
The mail was consolidated in St. Thomas in what was
then the Danish West Indies for the trip across the Atlantic.

The procedure required that all mail be prepaid to its destination.

Although some British stamps were in use in the Caribbean at
the time, their use was not introduced at Port-au-Prince until 1869.

I would have expected a British Post Office Haiti handstamp but there is none.

The Trans-Atlantic packet arrived in Liverpool
where it received a square ship cancel on October 10..
It went to London the same day where it was marked with a red SHIP LETTER cancel.
It was rated in London and 1F 60c was credited to the account of Great Britain.
The cover was then routed to an English Channel crossing from Dover to Calais.

When the letter arrived in Calais it was marked on October 11
with an ANGL. | AMB. CALAIS cancel indicating its origin in England.

It then proceeded to its destination in Le Havre where it arrived the same day.
The 10 marking is the 10 c. credit to France for carriage from Calais to Le Havre.

The pencilled HAITI and 4204 are dealer/owner marks.

Today in Postal History
January February March April May June
July August September October November December

Pastnotes Index - The First 300 and the Next 208
provides more tidbits about stamps and collectors.

Comments? Send me an e-mail
Please include a reference to this item.