Page 300 - Sierra Leone to 1961 - The Collection
P. 300
Non-Contract Period
October 1872 to March 1873
1872 Ad Hoc Ship Letter Service Only
5 December 1872 - London to Freetown, Sierra Leone. Arrival backstamp of 23 December 1872 in Freetown.
Carried by the British & African Steam Navigation Co. SS Senegal departing Liverpool on 13 December 1872.
Prior to October 1872 the mail contract was run the African Steam Ship Company. A British GPO Notice of
9 October 1872 announced that the previous contract had expired and that mail would “be despatched by each
opportunity that offers”. The contract renewal negotiations had stalled: the previous subsidy was £3,000 per
annum and shipping lines wanted £17,000.
The differences were settled as a new contract was agreed with effect from 31 March 1873 on the same basis
as the previous one, but that the sailings would be shared between The African Steam Ship Company and the
British & African Steam Navigation Co. In the six-month period when no formal contract was in place, mail
was carried as ship letters. This cover received a red Liverpool 3d accountancy mark confirming the status as
a ship letter. It would have been 1d as a packet letter.
From 1 June 1855 until 31 March 1879, the packet rate was 6d per half ounce.
