Page 301 - Sierra Leone to 1961 - The Collection
P. 301
The African Steam Ship Company and
British & African Steam Navigation Co. Shared Contract 1873-1879
1874 Weekly Service
5 June 1874 - London to Wilberforce, Sierra Leone. Arrival backstamp of 20 June 1874 in Freetown.
Carried by the British & African Steam Navigation Co. SS Senegal departing Liverpool on 6 June 1874.
On 3 January 1874, a weekly service from Liverpool to the West Coast of Africa was established. The mails
were made up either in London on a Friday evening, or on the Saturday morning in Liverpool. The ship
always sailed on a Saturday.
This letter is postmarked in London on Friday 5 June 1874. The Sierra Leone arrival backstamp shows a transit
time of 14 days.
This letter is a rare example of mail addressed to a village; Wilberforce is located in the Colony, ten miles west
of Freetown near the Atlantic coast. There was a Wesleyan rest home there where missionaries took holidays
or recuperated from illness.
From 1 June 1855 until 31 March 1879, the packet rate was 6d per half ounce. The postage is paid by six 1d
red adhesives from Plate 122.
