£460 - £650
EARLY "SHIP-LETTER/LONDON" (C.D.S.) COVER EX EAST INDIAMAN 'NORTHUMBERLAND' TO G.B.; 24 Dec. 1805 EL (folds to show heading inside alongside the address-panel) from the Captain of an East Indiaman (bound from Cork, Ireland to Calcutta) - headed from the "Northumberland E.I.M., St. Helena - to England; the contents note that "our stay here will, I fear, be very tedious, as the Government are, in clearing us, slow in the extreme... this hasty letter you will get by the Medusa, Frigate, who is on her passage home from Bengal with the melancholy news of the death of the great & good [Lord] Cornwallis [Governor General & C-in-C]...". It was landed at London and so has the large SHIP-LETTER/ LONDON c.d.s. (30 Jan. 1806) on the front and was charged "4" (Ship Letter rate) then 11[d] (4d + 7d inland to "Colchester) and finally 1/10 (11d + 11d inland on to Newcastle on Tyne). Rare early letter from the island sent just after the Battle of Trafalgar. Plus a fine hand-coloured 1817 print showing ships in St. Helena harbour. [Ex Brian Wood.] (2 items) Cross Reference: SHIP LETTERS, LONDON POSTAL HISTORY, NAVAL MAIL, INDIA
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