Break Time III

Often times, postal history in the 1800's is as much about the travels the letter took on its way to its destination as anything.  For example, here is a folded lettersheet that was sent to Hong Kong from Boston in 1862.

A folded letter sheet is essentially a piece of paper that is folded down to envelope size (approximately).  The message in on the inside of the sheet and addressing and postage is on the outside.  Envelopes were not necessarily the prevalent technology for sending mail at the time, so letter sheets are not at all uncommon.

At the time this item was sent, there were two routes for mailing items to Hong Kong via the British Mail system.  And, each of these routes had a different cost.  Can you imagine having two options for postage rates if you wanted to send something to California (for example?).  In this case, the sender had an option to choose the faster route via train through France or the slower route by ship around the Iberian peninsula.  The quicker route cost a few cents more, but often shaved off a week of travel time.  This particular letter followed the faster route (via Marseilles).

But, why would anyone want to send a letter via the slower route?  This item left New York in mid July and arrived in early September.  I suppose a person could figure another week wouldn't make a difference at that pace.  But, the other reason has to do with shipping schedules.  International commerce relied on shipping at that time and shipping tables were widely available.  Ships carrying the mail and their schedules were relatively well known.  If one looked at the tables and understood them, there could be instances where the faster route actually would not get the mail to Hong Kong any faster than the slow route depending on the day of arrival at the south coast of France.

So, the next time you got to the post office to mail something and you think the rates are complex now, consider the complexities of the past.  If you aren't grateful, you can at least have some appreciation for what has gone before to get us where we are with communications.