Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
308
Steam
vessels
had
been
in
successful
operation
for
three
years
before
they
were
introduced
into
the
mail
service.
In
1818,
the
Rob
Roy
steam-packet
plied
regularly
between
Greenock
and
Belfast;
in
1821,
the
year
in
which
Crown
packets
were
established,
the
Post-Office,
or
rather
the
Admiralty
on
behalf
of
the
Post-Office,
asked
the
help
of
steam.
The
Holyhead
station
for
Ireland,
and
the
Dover
station
for
the
Continent,
were
chosen
for
the
experiment
of
mail-steamers.
They
were
successful;
and
soon
we
find
six
steam-packets
stationed
at
each
place.
Then
we
have
the
gradual
introduction
of
mail
contracts.
The
first
of
these
commercial
contracts
was
made
in
1833,
with
the
Mona
Island
Steam
Company,
to
run
steamers
twice
a
week
between
Liverpool
and
Douglas,
in
the
Isle
of
Man.
Immediately
after,
the
General
Steam
Navigation
Company
contracted
to
carry
the
Rotterdam
and
Hamburgh
mails
for
17,000l.
a-year.
In
1853
these
mails
were
transferred
to
the
Ostend
route.
The
year
1839
was
quite
an
epoch
in
the
history
of
the
packet
service;
Mr.
Samuel
Cunard
of
Halifax,
Nova
Scotia,
having
in
that
year
contracted
with
the
British
Government
for
a
fortnightly
mail
across
the
Atlantic,
for
the
sum
of
60,000l.
a-year.
The
Cunard
line
of
steamers
is
now
universally
known,
and
is
unrivalled.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
