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| 19th Century American mail to India | ||||
| Mark Fuller | ||||
| Many of the letters to India in the 19th century were to missionaries working in various parts of India. It is thanks to the Bissell family that philatelists can study most of the covers that remain with 24c and 30c stamps of the banknote issue. Bissell was a missionary during the period 1868 to 1875. He kept the one hundred plus letters he received from home and took them back to America when his stint in India was completed. Thanks to a member of our Club [the American Stamp Club of Great Britain] I was able to buy one such cover. It kindled an interest in mail to India, but when I started I did not realise how difficult it would be; but that is half the fun.
In 1849 there were no trans-Pacific postal routes. All U.S. mail to India was first sent to England. At that time Cunard Line took the largest percentage of mail being carried across the Atlantic, mainly because it was fast and reliable, and the service did not stop during the Winter months like the German and French lines. There were three options available at that time for mail to reach Alexandria. Once the mail was put off there, the P&O had the monopoly of carrying mail to the Far East until 1862. The options were: |
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| Via Southampton. | ||||
| Mail was carried by the P&O Line from Southampton-Gibraltar-Malta-Alexandria. The initial postal rate for a ½ oz letter was 45c, and this rate remained in force until the British Open Mail, carried by either British or American ship, started operating. The new postal rate was either 21c fully prepaid, or otherwise the American internal to ship rate of 5c had to be prepaid, and the remainder of the postage was collected from the addressee. The Southampton rate was restarted in April 1859, but at a reduced rate of 33c. A further reduction to 22c occurred in January 1868, but only two months later it was increased to 28c, and then did not return to 22c until January 1870. There was one final reduction to 21c in July 1875, a year before the U.P.U. 10c rate was introduced throughout most of the world. The British Open Mail remained in service until January 1868. | ||||
| Via Marseilles. | ||||
| This second route used the railways as well as shipping and was quicker than the Southampton route. It was carried by Anglo-French Treaties. The mail went by Channel ports to Calais, then through France by rail to Marseilles. It was then taken by French Packet to Alexandria, and from 1852 to 1870, mail was also taken by the P&O Line.
In July 1849 a ¼ oz letter was charged 65c and a ½ oz letter 75c, this difference was caused because the French Post Office had a ¼ oz single rate, whereas Britain and America had a ½ oz single letter rate. This difference often led to complicated postal rates on covers. These high rates stopped as soon as the British Open Packet Rate was introduced. In April 1859 the Marseilles route was restarted but at a reduced rate of 39c per ¼ oz or 45c per ½ oz. This remained in force until January 1868 when it was reduced to 30c, but after two months it was increased to 36c. The rate did not return to 30c until January 1870. A few short months after this change in rate the Brindisi route was opened, putting an end to the Marseilles route. |
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| The Brindisi Route | ||||
| The main advantage of the Brindisi route was that it was 500 sea miles shorter than the Marseilles route. The route developed in three stages. Initially it was an experimental route, crossing France by rail, and then descending down the boot of Italy to Brindisi. From there it was carried by Italian packet to Alexandria. The second stage occurred in the period November 1869 to October 1870. A portion of the mail directed via Marseilles was sent to Brindisi. This disruption was the result of the Franco-Prussian War. Mail could no longer go through France.
The British Post Office made new arrangements with Germany for the mail to be carried by the North German Union. The route was via Ostende, Cologne, Munich, and down through Italy to Brindisi. The P&O Line then took the mail to Alexandria. Apart from a general increase in the speed of ships and trains as time progressed, two other major events reduced the delivery time of mail to India and the Far East. The major one was the building of the Suez Canal. This was preceded by the building of a railway line between Alexandria and Suez. Though it was only 240 miles long, the line, started in 1850, took 3 years to reach the Nile and a further 2 years to reach Cairo. It was not completed to Suez until December 1859. The British Government of the day gave a £12,000 subsidy for complete postal facilities for rail transit between Alexandria and Suez. The Suez Canal opened for shipping in November 1869. From 1874 mail from Southampton was taken directly up the Suez Canal and on to India and the Far East. The Brindisi mails were not routed through the canal until 1888. Once in the Indian Ocean the P&O Line carried the mail to Calcutta between 1845 to 1854. The East Indian Company also had a contract to carry mail, but this expired in 1854. From that date to March 1868 the P&O Line had a service to both Bombay and Calcutta, but after March 1868 the Calcutta service was abandoned. The other development that speeded the mail was the building of the Mont Cenis tunnel, completed in 1871. This expedited mail between France and Italy. In these notes very little mention has been made so far of the alternative routes that were available through Germany and France. Starnes in his book lists Prussian Closed Mail; Bremen-Hamburg via Marseilles or Trieste; North German Union direct; American Packet from San Francisco direct to India from 1868; North German closed mail via Bremen or Trieste, and the French Indo-China Line. Looking through old American and British philatelic auction catalogues, there are not many US covers to India by British routes, and any carried by German or French routes are extremely rare. The main reasons why the German routes were not popular were because postage rates tended to be slightly higher, and that during the Winter months the German and other foreign ships did not sail because of the very high maintenance costs. The Cunard Line sailed throughout all weathers! Also, the design of the German ships was clumsy, and because of their shape they tended to roll in heavy seas and were slower in crossing the Atlantic. In 1857 the French Indo-China Line carried mail, but as the French rate was 60c for a ½ oz letter compared to 21c by British Line. The service lasted only five years before being wound up. So far I have not been able to get any information about the direct San Francisco Line that started in July 1868, except that the charge was 10c for a ½ oz letter. It appears that because of the high operating costs the service was not a success. |
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| References: Charles J Starnes: article in 'The Chronicle' Part 100 Charles J Starnes: US Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations | ||||
| Reprinted with permission from The Mayflower, journal of the American Stamp Club of Great Britain | ||||
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