£550
** WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION - LETTER EX PRISONER IN DEVON TO FRANCE VIA HOLLAND; Remarkable 6 Oct. 1744 EL (outer wrapper with minor loss at right of address, just clear of endorsements etc.) from a French merchant ship's Captain captured at sea by an English ship off the coast of Spain, written in prison in Totnes (Devon), describing his capture and lamenting the loss of the ship (which was sunk), while his crew are in prison in Plymouth. The letter is addressed to a merchant in Bordeaux, but the mail service was suspended due to the War, and so the letter was sent by private means to London and on to Rotterdam (Forwarding Agent endorsements from each town on the flap) before being posted and so it was charged "23" with a fine "HOLLANDE" struck in transit in Paris on the front. Fascinating contents. The earliest Prisoner of War letter that we have recorded from an English Prison. [See MFPWE, p. 37.] Cross Reference: MILITARY - P.O.W. MAIL, DEVON, FORWARDING AGENTS, NETHERLANDS
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