MICHAEL HAMILTON
POSTAL HISTORY
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All world BANK TRANSFERS by WISE to Michael David Cameron Hamilton SORT CODE 23-08-01 Account 58021507. No postal charges
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Subject: Interrupted Mail Clear

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WRECK of the Private Ship "ROBERT" at Egg Island, Bahamas, journey continued by "Lord Eldon"
A newly discovered wreck entire written "Nassau 11 Dec 1816" marked "Robert" changed "Lord Eldon" to Glasgow landed with PORTSMOUTH/SHIP LETTER rated 1/4 and 1/6 with poor boxed Scottish wheel tax "½", two chisel slits, rarely found on Private Ship Letters from the BWI, struck from reverse (about 1½ inches or 1 6/16th inches or 17mm) with (London) 13 FE 13 1817 b/stamp, Glasgow 16 FEB receiver above address panel.
Robert entered Lloyd's Register in 1815 as an American prize. Until 1822 the brig was a West Indiaman based in Liverpool and sailing to the Bahamas or Havana. Lloyd's List reported (FE 2 1817) that the "Robert", Wilkes, master, had been sailing from New Providence to Liverpool when she struck a reef off Egg Island, Bahamas, and had to put back for repairs.
£2000

Unique forced registration "Supposed to contain coin/REGISTRATION FEE 6D", Queensland postal history
1871 interrupted mail cover with 2 x QV 3d greenish grey pmk'd "Q.L" and tied BRISBANE 4/NO 1 71 paying the 6d rate via Southampton to Cambridge Heath, London, h/stamped champhered corners boxed "Supposed to contain coin/REGISTRATION FEE 6D." with further QV 6d yellow-green affixed and tied "Q.L", London registration cds and oval dated JA 29 72 plus red crayon "1/-" confirming full postage paid. Ex Geoffrey MANTON.
£8500



Mail to St. George's DETAINED AT AMERICAN CONSUL FOR 13 YEARS, Bermuda postal history
1879 cover from P.D. Slocum & Co., Clothiers, New Bedford, Massachusetts to Mr. Holder B. Slocum, 1st Mate Brig V.H. Hill, Capt. Sylvia, Bermuda (showing "Care Am Consul" at lower left) with U.S. 5c blue Zachary Taylor tied New Bedford cork dated MAY 10 with Boston MAY 10 transit and ST. GEORGES MAY 20 1879 oval receiving backstamps (LRD on incoming mail), after 13 years marked in red manuscript "Remained at American Consulate until 23rd April 1892/Not called for" with presumed Consulate Dead Letter Office purple pointing hand "RETURN TO THE WRITER. D.L.O." handstamp and placed in the mail with ST. GEORGES B/AP 23 92 cds (H1, usually applied at a transit or arrival datestamp, Ludington Page 141) with DEAD LETTER OFFICE/S A triangle dated MAY 11-92 on reverse. A fascinating item.
Previous history: The whaling schooner Varnum H. Hill of and from Provincetown, was captured by the rebel steamer "Florida" on 27 June 1863 and released on bond of $10,000 on condition that she would take prisoners belonging to the destroyed ships "Southern Cross" (June 6, burnt same day), "Red Gauntlet" (June 14, kept in company as carrying coal and burnt on the 26th), "Benjamin Hoxie" (June 16 carrying silver bars valued at £500,000, sunk June 27) into Bermuda. Some 54 seamen were landed at Hamilton on 4 July and were taken in charge by the American Consul, and on 7 July Captain Doe of the British brig "Henrietta" agreed to take the seamen brought in by the V.H. Hill to New York. (Research shows no further mention of the V.H. Hill allowing no explanation for this incoming letter of 1879, and it being detained at the American Consul for 13 years until released in 1892). The "Florida" was a highly successful commerce raider in the Confederate States Navy capturing 37 prize ships.
£525



Wreck of S.S. "Emeu" to Woodford, Kensington, missent Hackney, NEW SOUTH WALES postal history
1857 entire with large part content to a Mrs. Cowell, Belgrave Villa, Woodford, near London with QV 6d slate tied barred oval cancel with fine SYNEY D/SEP 10 1857 displaying upper flap and red LONDON NL/DE 7 57 on address panel, on arrival re-directed Kensington and showing manuscript "Missent to Hackney", some smaller faults.
Sent on the S.S. "Emeu" (under charter of the Australian Royal Mail Co.) which left Sydney on September 11 bound for Suez, but stranded on October 22nd in the Red Sea, on the Guttal el Bunna, a coral reef 120 miles from Jeddah. She was refloated the following day and beached for repairs near Duber Dubb finally reaching Suez on the 3rd November, the mails however having been transferred to the P.&.O S.S. "Madras" which reached Suez on the 19th November (16 days after the "Emeu"!). Paid for delivery in Southampton the cover was sent from Alexandria on the P.&.O "Ripon" arriving December 7th.
£625



PSRE from COUVA with REGISTRATION NOT ACTIVATED, Trinidad postal history
1890 use of QV 2d PSRE with added QV 4d grey, pair QV 6d olive-black (SG.110,111) pmk'd COUVA B/NO 6 90 to Bishop Auckland, England arriving A/NO 20 90 being an extremely rare example of quadruple 4d postage but due failure to transit through Port Of Spain (circumstances of interruption not yet established) the 2d registration fee could not be employed resulting in there being no Head Office transit cds, no registration label affixed by Port of Spain, and no hooded REGISTERED LONDON transit cds being all the requirements of secure mail.
Mail left Port of Spain NO 6 1890, arrived Barbados NO 8 1890, arrived Plymouth NO 19 1890 as per RMSP homeward schedule attached.
£350



Wreck of the 'Schiller' (Hoboken N.J, Scilly Isles, Germany's "Titanic"), Canada postal history
THE ONLY RECORDED WRECK COVER ORIGINATING FROM CANADA marked "Via United States" with Small Queen 2c green x 2, QV 6c brown x 2 pmk'd HALIFAX N.S. A/AP 22 75 duplex to The Manager, The Imperial Bank, Lothbury, London taken from the wrecked S.S. Schiller on the Retarrier Ledges, Scilly Isles to London where red London Paid 10 MY 75 cds applied, reverse with handwritten contemporary endorsement of "This Envelope was down in the Sr. Ship Schiller wrecked on a rock off the Scilly Isles in the month of May 1875".
Accompanied by a wonderfully easy to read pre-owned copy of "The Victorian Titanic".
£3000


POLIGNAC COVER DENIED DESTINATION DUE SIEGE OF PARIS, St. Vincent postal history
This Duke de Polignac wrapper arrived at Calais NO 29 1870 on the same day that the “Jacquard”, the 34th ballon monté, crashed into the Irish Sea off the Scilly Isles killing the pilot Alexandre Prince; some bags of mail were later recovered. Paris, at this time, was surrounded and besieged by the Prussian army period SP 17 1870 until the FE 28 1871 Armistice. No mail could get in, hence the re-routing to the small hamlet of St. Jean du Cardinay, Maromme in Normandy. French aeronauts suggested to the postal authorities in Paris that balloons be used to maintain communications with the provisional government in Tours, and beyond. In total 67 well documented outgoing flights were made carrying over 2 million pieces of mail to places around the world with rare survivors having reached Mauritius, Hong Kong, and Japan.
This unique NO 9 1870 cover bears the earliest recorded use of the QV 1/- brown in combination with printer’s guide-line positional strip of three, and single QV 1d rose-red, the former invoiced AU 13 1869 but held back for 14 months as seemingly not a suitable oil-lamp match for the latter. All further uses of the 1/- brown pay the single rate to England, and a replacement QV 1d in black was hastily ordered on JA 6 1871.
£6000


BRITISH HONDURAS via DUBLIN to GLASGOW postal history
1892 interrupted mail cover with W. BINNEY & Co., Belize colourless embossed flap to Glasgow, Scotland with QV 6c tied "0" obliterator with BELIZE A/JA 15 92 despatch, postmarked DUBLIN FE 2 92 and on reverse GLASGOW FE 3 93 arrival.
£175



VICTORIOUS "PORTLAND" RAN AGROUND in RIVER SHANNON and STRANDED, ANTIGUA INTERRUPTED PACKET MAIL
This entire is headed “Antigua 28th Octr 1796” and marked “by Portland packet” from the Tudway correspondence to Wells, Somersetshire with handstruck S:KITTS rated 2/- changed 3/2. The “Portland” had left Falmouth with the mails for the Leeward Islands on AU 29 1796 and when off Barbados was attacked by a French privateer in which she beat off the attacker and preserved the mails. The Cook, William Thomson, lost a leg during the fighting and subsequently died of his injuries. In calm seas, near Guadeloupe, another armed privateer, the “Temeraire”, of much superior force gave chase. At daylight on October 18th the enemy hoisted her French colours and came alongside to board. The Master, Nathaniel Taylor, organised the passengers to open their musquetry upon her killing or wounding 41 of 68 on board. Captain Taylor was killed in the moment of victory. The “Temeraire” was taken into Montserrat as a prize, and the “Portland” left St. Kitts on 30th October bound Falmouth. Due a shortage of fresh water she put into the River Shannon on the west coast of Ireland on 6th January 1797. Sailing shortly after she had to put back because of bad weather, and whilst sheltering she was driven from her moorings and higher up the river ran aground. Stranded and waiting to be refloated on the Spring Tides she eventually arrived at Falmouth on 25th March. In the interim the Mate, Richard Leonard, personally took the mails from Limerick to London and they were placed in the post JA 14 97 per backstamp. This is the first recorded “Portland” interrupted mail entire clearly documenting its journey. The full story can be found in “The History of the Sailing Packets to the West Indies” by Len Britnor Pages 72-73 published by the BWI Study Circle 1973.
£2250

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE CASE OF "O.R." (Official Registration), Victoria postal history
1876 interrupted mail cover to Horse Shoe Bend with QV 1d, 2d pmk'd Sandhurst "4" duplex dated B/MY 29 76. Marked in manuscript "O.R." (Officially Registered) as it contained something of value contrary to law with two strikes framed REGISTERED and oval MORE TO PAY appended "6d" in matching ink. Some faults, soiling and backstamped Redesdale Victoria MY 30 76 clear of missing flap. RPSV Certificate (2008).
The expectation is that the survival rate of Officially Registered covers, because they contained coin or other valuables, for the pre-1885 adhesive period is approximately 1 within every 10,000. This means that most countries can offer no examples. For the whole of the British West Indies group I record only one cover which was compulsorily registered.
£2250
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