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CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
Ship letters
Cape Town via the United Kingdom to the United States
August 1869
Main feature
The fact that the ship letter rate of 4d only lasted up to the first port of
call, in this case, London. The evidence is the 'PAID ONLY TO ENGLAND'
mark applied in London and likewise the 'INSUFFICIENTLY PREPAID' for its
onward journey.
The ship letter rate to the United States direct was 4d whereas the ship letter rate from the United
States to Cape Colony was 22 cents [lid]. Instead ofbeing treated as an unpaid ship letter from the
UK to the USA for }Vhich the rate was 6d [I2 cents]- the same as the packet rate. -
The letter was probably sent over on the packet service from Liverpool to the US for which the rate
was I2 cents [6d].
On arrival in the US [Philadelphia Received is the only mark on the back] the US post office marked
an unpaid ship letter charge of 22c in blue and noted the British claim of 2c [Id] marked in red. The
recipient thus paid IOc [5d] more than was necessary. [See Hargest Tables page 215].
The London Ship Letter cds in red on the back is dated September 17 I869. 
