** DARTMOOR (DEVON) - P.O.W. COVER WITH THE RARE H.S. "Exd J...

Hammer

£600

** DARTMOOR (DEVON) - P.O.W. COVER WITH THE RARE H.S. "Exd JM" (JOHN MOORE) CENSOR MARK; Very fine 6 May 1813 EL (unsealed) from "Jean Baptiste Gassendy, Quartier maitre provenant du Vaisseau le Formidable... a la prison Dartmoor prest Tavistock" being a friendly letter to his cousin in Paris (redirected to "Agen" and then to "Aguillon" with mainly fine "DEB.4.S/AGEN" on the flap, beside a very fine rare Handstruck Dartmoor Prison Censor's "Exd JM" (John Moore) as well as a red Paris 1 Sept. transit cds. The contents (about money etc.) include instructions to reply "par Morlaix pour Angleterre". The writer was taken prisoner on the 'Formidable' when the few French ships that had escaped the Battle of Trafalgar were taken on 4 Nov. 1805 at the Battle of Cape Ortegal. [Not recorded in MFPWE.]Cross Reference: FRANCE, MILITARY - P.O.W. MAIL, DEVON