Page 294 - Sierra Leone to 1961 - The Collection

Ship Letter to Sierra Leone

1826 Half Packet Rate Letter from London

9 August 1826 - London to Sierra Leone by the private brig Salmon River via British Post Office

A wrapper addressed to Revd Wm Piggott at the Mission House, Free Town. William Piggott is listed in the
Minutes of the Methodist Conferences as serving in Sierra Leone in both 1825 and 1826.

The London datestamp of 9 August 1826 and arrival annotation Recd Sept 23
1826 give a transit time of 44 days.

From 1799 to 1848 there was no service to West Africa provided by the British Post
Office. Letters handed to the Post Office were sent via private ships and charged at
‘half packet rate’. This referred to the South American rate at the time.

In 1826 the charge to Brazil was 11d for postage from London to Falmouth plus Robertson Type S47
2s 7d packet rate, total 3s 6d. Thus half of the rate was 1s 9d, which was written
in black ink on the envelope.

The Salmon River left Freetown on 3 December 1826 bound for London with a load of teak. She put into
Dover on 2 February 1827 for repairs to storm damage, and then became ice-bound at Deptford from 18 to
25 February. On 27 February the Salmon River was clear but, after a rope broke, she became grounded and was
lost. A court case followed to decide if she had safely arrived at her port of destination and thus whether the
insurance policy for the period of transit was still in force when the ship was lost.