£1,400 - £2,000
TRANSATLANTIC MAILS - WRECK OF THE S.S. "GREAT BRITAIN" COVER (ONE OF 5 KNOWN) - MANCHESTER TO NEW YORK; 21 Sept. 1846 EL (central filing fold clear of all the postal markings) from "Greenfield" (near Manchester) addressed to New York and endorsed "per steamer Great Britain from Liverpool" and "Prepaid" on the front. The postal markings comprise a fine red "UPPER MILL" UDC, red ms "P8" charge [8d prepaid], red "MANCHESTER" cds (21 Sept.) and v. fine red New York "7" arrival charge-mark all on the front, plus a very fine black "SHIP·LETTER/(crown)/LIVERPOOL" cds (22 Sept.) on the top flap. The recipient's filing note is unusually detailed and includes; "Recd. 22nd Oct. Per Great Britain Acadia", showing that this letter was indeed delayed due to the stranding of the famous steamer, the S.S. Great Britain, which was beached at Dundrum (on the east Irish coast) on the night of 23rd Sept. 1846. It is thought that the mails were subsequently carried on the Caledonia, rather than the Acadia; so the recipient of this letter must have been misinformed [see Gwynn/Hoggarth, p. 20]. The crew and passengers were all saved and the mails (including this letter) were taken via Belfast by the ship's surgeon to Liverpool, from where they continued their delayed journeys. The S.S. Great Britain was to remain stranded on the beach for 11 months, before being repaired and transferred to the Australian mails route (and ending her days in the Falkland Islands, before being brought back to Bristol and opening as a Museum!). Only five covers from this Wreck have been recorded, including one to Canada [which Cavendish auctioned in March 1998; lot 868, sold for £3,450]. One of the rarest of Maritime Wreck covers and from one of the most famous Pioneer Steamers of all. Highly Important Transatlantic or Australian Mails Exhibition centre-piece. [Ex Cavendish June 2019; lot 95, realised £3,800+BP]. [Ex Michael Manning.] Cross Reference: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TRANSATLANTIC MAIL, LANCASHIRE - MANCHESTER, SHIP LETTERS
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