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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
90
But
perhaps
the
most
curious
difficulty
arising
out
of
a
shipwrecked
mail
was
that
which
took
place
in
connection
with
the
loss
of
the
Union
Steamship
Company's
packet
'European'
off
Ushant,
in
December
1877.
After
this
ship
went
down
the
mails
were
recovered,
but
not
without
serious
damage,
through
saturation
with
sea-water.
One
of
the
registered
letter-bags
from
Cape
Town,
on
being
opened
in
the
chief
office
in
London,
was
found
to
contain
several
large
packets
of
diamonds,
the
addresses
on
which
had
been
destroyed
by
the
action
of
the
water,
and
some
7
lbs.
weight
of
loose
diamonds,
which
had
evidently
formed
the
contents
of
a
lot
of
covers
lying
as
pulp
at
the
bottom
of
the
bag,
and
from
which
no
accurate
addresses
could
be
obtained.
Every
possible
endeavour
was
made
to
trace
the
persons
to
whom
the
unbroken
packets
were
consigned,
and
with
such
success,
that
after
some
little
delay
they
reached
the
hands
of
the
rightful
owners.
To
discover
who
were
the
persons
having
claims
upon
the
loose
diamonds,
which
could
not
be
individually
identified,
was
a
more
serious
matter,
involving
much
trouble
and
correspondence.
At
length
this
was
ascertained;
and
as
the
only
means
of
satisfying,
or
attempting
to
satisfy,
the
several
claims,
the
diamonds
were
valued
by
an
experienced
broker,
and
sold
for
the
general
behoof,
realising
L19,000.
This
means
of
meeting
the
several
claimants
proved
so
satisfactory,
that
not
a
single
complaint
was
forthcoming.
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