Page 9 - Johnson_CapeOfGoodHope
P. 9
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
Ship letters
Cape Town to the Netherlands via the United Kingdom
July 1866
Description
On the front: Paid 2s 6d. Posted in Cape Town on the 14th July 1866 addressed to the Netherlands
[Utrecht]. Endorsed 'per Steamer Earl King'. Marked '6' and '67' on top of '68', '1/-' in black and
'1/-' in red, and '89' in black. Handstamped 'PAID ONLY TO ENGlAND'. London Paid cds with
'Paid' crossed out.
On the back: cds ofsGravenhage and cds of Utrecht as well as Ship letter London cds. Manuscript
'2.10', '1.85' and an undecipherable figure crossed out all in black ink.
Explanation
The ship letter rate from Cape Town to the UK was 4d for each oz with 2d for each Yz oz being
credited to the UK. The ship letter rate from Cape Town direct to the Netherlands was 6d for each
Yz oz.
The Earl King was a screw steamer [ 1400 tons, Captain I Pinel at the time of posting]. The earl
King was in transit from Foo Chow in China via Mauritius and Cape Town with a cargo of teas for
London. She put into table bay on the 14th July 1866, the day this letter was posted and left for
London on the 1Yh July 1866.
The '6' is an indication of a 6 tiros Yz oz letter [2Yzoz to 3 ozs]. As the letter was sent by private ship
to the UK the postage was 2s Od [6x 4d] with 6d being overpaid unless the 6d was some form of late
fee.
The '1/-' in red represents 6x 2d as the credit of postage to the UK. On arrival in the UK the letter
was treated as an unpaid letter from another country in transit liable to the normal rate of postage
to the Netherlands without any fine or deficient postage charge. The rate was 3d for each Yz oz via
Belgium [normally a 3d fine plus unpaid postage on letters for the Netherlands posted in the UK.
The '1/-' in black represents the British claim against the Netherlands based on 2d out of each 3d
[1d internal postage and 1d sea transit postage] ie 6x 2d.
In the Netherlands the letter would have been rated 6x 3d or 18d [ls6d].
The currency rate was 1guilder was 1s 8.28d [lOOc"' 20.28d]. This gives 1d as 4.93c. 4.93c X 18 is
88.7 4c rounded up to 89c as the charge to the addressee.
The numbers on the back remain to be explained. 
