Mail at Sea- the Postal Service
As early as the 17th century, mail was sent from Great Britain to the continent by ships called packetboats. From 1660, they regularly sailed from Harwich to Holland. This was because Holland was an important international trading partner for Britain. Other routes led from Dover to Calais and from Falmouth to Spain, Portugal and the West Indies. Both the ships and the crew were not employed directly by the Royal Mail, but were contracted.
H.M Packet brig 'Sheldrake' entering Falmouth harbour, by Matthew Nicolas Condy, 1834 (x)
In these times, the sea route was often not safe. But the biggest beneficiary was the Royal Navy and so the postal service had the most efficient until the end of the 18th century. There was a large network of stagecoaches on the British Isles and mail was still carried by packet boats to the naval bases and the ports mentioned above, but only as long as one party was not at war with the other. Otherwise, the station was not visited. If, however, the delivery point was outside the area served by the Post, the mail was handed over in sealed parcels to merchant ships for delivery. The service was considered so important that the Post Office was an important department of the government, headed by a Postmaster General who was a senior minister of the Crown.
Mail Packet off Eastbourne,by Victor Tolubioff Howes (c.1823–1907) (x)
However, packet boats or ships were also very popular targets of the enemy, as the letters could contain interesting war-related content. Or the pacts might contain things that one could use oneself, and so they were attacked so often that there were official rates of compensation for death or injury: £8 for an arm or leg of a sailor, £4 for an eye. Therefore, the service was much feared in wartime and many letters never reached their destination. And so sending letters at sea was also a very expensive affair. A letter from Britain to a ship in the Mediterranean cost as much as a tenth of a sailor's monthly wage. Therefore, in 1795, the government introduced a special flat rate of one penny per letter for Royal Navy sailors, regardless of distance.
Royal Mail Postbag, mid- 19th century (x)
Educated seamen made extensive use of this service, while those who could not read often asked more learned shipmates to write letters for them. This special tariff was also available from home, so that the dearest could write from home. The name of the sailor and his ship were written on the letter and then everyone could only hope that it would arrive. If ships were on blockade duty, it was a simpler matter and the packet boats could head directly for the ships and deliver the letters. It was more difficult when the fleet was moving and not in the hoped-for port where they were supposed to be. Now not all positions were released (for security reasons) and it could be that it was necessary to move out. Then it could be that the letters were stored in the port or given to a frigate that was on its way. Otherwise, it could also be that all the mail was taken away and brought back to England. If the post office found out where the ship was, however, the letters usually arrived within a few days within the domestic waters. Letters to the Mediterranean or the West Indies took several months, while it could take more than half a year for a reply to a letter to a ship in the Indian Ocean to arrive. As already mentioned, if at all.
The merchant ships were easier to deliver to, because they had their fixed routes. Not only did they deliver mail, they also used the postal service themselves. The whaling ships were an exception. By the end of the 18th century, British and New England whalers had fished the Atlantic almost dry, and their ships embarked on voyages to the Pacific that could last up to two and sometimes three years. They developed their own unofficial system for mail delivery, set up on the otherwise uninhabited Charles Island in the Galapagos, which consisted of a large barrel with a turtle shell on top. Newly arriving whalers from home deposited mail there for ships already in the Pacific. When one returned, it stopped briefly at the island and checked the mail. It worked quite well, even though the Americans loved to call at this spot during the War of 1812 to locate and attack the British whalers.
Advertisement of a Packet Ship, 1851 (x)
Sailing packets carried the mail up to 1815, but then gradually steam ships took over and over. For some of the 19th century the Post Office did own and run some ships themselves – the Admiralty took over for a time when the Post Office’s lack of maritime expertise got them into difficulties. However, from the 1840’s commercial shipping lines began to be contracted to carry the mail. Companies such as White Star Line (later Cunard), Peninsular and Oriental Shipping Company (P&O) and the West Indian Royal Mail. Their prefix since then has been the famous RMS (Royal Mail Ship).
Packet ships were active until the early 20th century, when they were largely displaced by airmail. Only a few mail ships still operated on the Atlantic, for example the RMS St. Helena, which delivered mail to the island of St. Helena, or the RMS Queen Mary 2, known primarily as a passenger ship. Since the St Helena's last voyage to Cape Town on 10 February 2018, there are only three Royal Mail Ships left: RMS Queen Mary 2, RMS Segwun and RMV Scillionian III. In the latter, the prefix RMV stands for Royal Mail Vessel, which is only used for motor vessels.
