£2,200
TRANSATLANTIC MAILS - WRECK OF THE S.S. "GREAT BRITAIN" COVER (ONE OF 5 KNOWN) - MANCHESTER TO NEW YORK; 21 Sept. 1846 part-printed duplicate (endorsed 'D' at lower left) EL (faint central filing fold) to Boston, endorsed 'per Gt Britain' at top with Lombard Street d.s., London Ship Letter d.s. and rated '8'(d) prepaid. Without a US arrival d.s. however there is a faint red hooded-framed "PAID/6" h.s. at the central top of the address panel representing the 6c inwards ship letter charge. A rare and famous delayed wreck item due to the stranding of this steamer, 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. 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, the most recent sold in our Dec. 2018 sale for £3800. One of the rarest of Maritime Wreck covers and from one of the most famous Pioneer Steamers of all. Highly Important Transatlantic Mail Exhibition centre-piece. Cross Reference: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TRANSATLANTIC MAIL, CRASH/WRECK MAIL, OVERSEAS DESTINATIONS
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