Providence, RI FEB 12 cds on folded letter to Alexandria, Virginia with manuscript "20" rerated to "40"

Black "SAVAN GA DEC 29" cds on folded cover to Louisville with manuscript "12 1/2", no contents or docketing.

Black "NEWBt Ms APR 25" cds on 1806 folded letter to Boston with manuscript "Sh 12", from "Aliante".

Rated 10 cents (40-80 miles + 2 cent ship fee)

Black Trenton SEP 5 cds on folded letter to Bath, MA with red "FREE" manuscript from the Treasury Department. The letter is franked by Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury Department, datelined "Treasury Department/Register's Office (Trenton)/ Septr. 5, 1799."

During the time Philadelphia was the United States Capital, some of the executive departments would flee to other sites during that city's oppressive summer heat and contagious fevers. As shown in this letter's dateline and the townmark, the Treasury Department was at Trenton, New Jersey in 1799 at summer's end.

Addressed to Bath, Massachusetts, before the District of Maine became a state in 1820.

Black "NEWPT RI SEP 5" cds on folded letter to Bath, MA with manuscript "Sh 19." Manuscript "Brig Rebecca Capt. Abbot Via Boston"

Letter datelined "London June 30th 1812" from Samuel Harding while on business in GB with his wife Lucy at their home in Bath Mass (now Maine). He says that he "arrived in Chatham...on the 15th May." He had written "6 or 7 letters since which however have been stopped by the Repeal of the Orders in Council as the vessels by whom I wrote returned to take cargo for the U.States."

The "Orders in Council" were three executive orders issued from
1807 to 1809 prohibiting trade with France. In an attempt at reconciliation with the US, GB repealed them on June 23, 1812, but it was too late. War had already been declared.

It appears that this letter was on the Brig Rebecca when it was intercepted by the privateer Commodore Barney of the "swift clipper-built schooner Rossie" on August 10 while the Rebecca was on its way to Boston.

Barney reportedly spent 45 days at sea and intercepted 14 ships, including the Rebecca. He destroyed 9 of the ships, but not the Rebecca. The Rebecca was seized for a breach of the non-importation law.

Ships captured by privateers were typically brought to a port by a prize crew from the privateer ship. However, Barney might have kept the mail and taken it to the Newport post office, perhaps pocketing the ship fee himself.

Barney was reported to have arrived in Newport on August 30. He got new supplies and left Newport on September 7. The cds is dated September 5, which puts it in the time period when Barney was at Newport.

The ship must have been US registered because it is typically described as "the Brig Rebecca, of Saco.", presumably the reason why he did not burn or sink the Rebecca.

Black "SAVAN GA JAN 19" cds on folded cover to Charleston
Manuscript "12 1/2", no contents or docketing. Very clear and sharp strike of this First Federal Handstamp indicates a very early strike of this handstamp.

Black "NORFOLK VA JAN 7" cds, second Federal handstamp, on 1810 folded cover to Boston. Manuscript "25"

Black "NORFOLK VA NOV 25" cds on 1804 folded letter from Breman, Germany to Baltimore. The letter is datelined 1 July 1804. Manuscript Ship "30" corrected to "60"

Black "NEWBt Ms OCT 15" cds on 1804 folded letter to Salem with manuscript "8"

Red New York cds with red "SHIP" straightline on folded letter to New Jersey with manuscript "8" and "Ship Virginia."

In 1825, Postmaster General John McLean established a new way of treating letters carried by non-contract ships from New Orleans to New York, Philadelphia and Providence, Rhode Island. The Postmaster General created the fiction that such vessels were "Impliedly under contract" so that, unlike other non-contract vessels whose letters were rated based on the distance (i) from the port of entry to destination without regard to the distance traveled to arrive at the port of entry, or (ii) were charged a flat rate if the letter was addressed to the port of entry without regard to the distance traveled to reach the port of entry, these letters were also charged for the distance over any waters they traveled if those waters were official post road (e.g., in the case of a letter from New Orleans to Philadelphia, the distance down the Mississippi River from New Orleans to the sea and the distance from the sea up the Delaware River to Philadelphia.) 9

This letter carried from New Orleans to Rahway, NJ via New York City which is rated under the old system for the distance from New York City to Rahway (6e for not over 30 miles + 2c ship fee) without regard to the 103 miles traveled down the Mississippi River and across Long Island Sound to New York.

This was carried on the Ship Virginia in 1825 before the "Mail Route" fiction was created.

This cover, date lined "New York Feby 13 : 1826," was carried by a non-contract ship, the "Niagara" to Balize rather than New Orleans. There it was stamped "SHIP" and rated 14/½/24 (124/24) for 80-150 miles from Balize to New Orleans in this way + 24 ship fee." The mail avoided a higher fee for the greater distance (254).

This 14 1/2 cent rate for a ship letter delivered at the port of entry into the mail system is not consistent with the postal laws in effect in 1826. However, it aligns with the Mail Route Fiction.

Red "MAIL ROUTE" marking on folded letter to New York with manuscript "12" and "Ship Louisiana." This letter is endorsed as leaving New Orleans 22 March 1828 and received in New York on April 22.

New Orleans Mail Route letters addressed to northern ports, such as this one, were charged postage from New Orleans to the mouth of the Mississippi, a distance of 100 miles which carried a single weight rate of 12 1/2 cents under the 1825 schedule of rates.

According to Bond, only about 30% of New York MAIL ROUTE covers are known to have the 12 1/2 c rate.

Red "MAIL ROUTE" on folded letter datelined May 3, 1829 to New York. Manuscript "Consignee" and "per Hannibal."

The Mail Route fiction did not affect letters that would have traveled free of postage and the ship fee under the old system. This letter was carried on the non-contract ship "Hannibal" and was Free as a Consignee letter.

Red "New York Dec 3" cds with red "MAIL ROUTE" marking on 1828 folded cover datelined "At Sea Lattd. 38° 48' - Longd. 70° 26', Oct 10th 1828" to Boston Mass., red "New-York Dec 3" cds and red manuscript "37½" rating, cover endorsed "Pr. Azelia" at bottom left, Very Fine.

Joshua Smith began writing this letter on October 10, at sea. After two additions at sea, he wrote a following note on "OCT 24th off Tortuga Bank." The following note was on "OCT 31st at "Plaquemine" LA. On Nov 9th, he wrote from New Orleans, where he sold the cargo. The Ship "Azalia" arrived in New York on Dec 3.

Letter mentions ship travels and that the "Chariot" sails well.

Black "SHIP 14 1/2" handstamp on March 1, 1838 folded letter from New York City to New Orleans. Manuscript "Kentucy."

Red New York Jun 1 cds with red "MAIL ROUTE" marking on folded letter to Maine. Manuscript "25"