The History of the British Post Office

by Joseph Clarence Hemmeon

When Cotton and Frankland were appointed Postmasters-General in 1691, the following sailing packets were in commission.[497]

	{ Flanders,	2 boats.
Between England and	{ Holland,	3
	{ Ireland,	3
Between Scotland and Ireland,		2
At Deal for the Downs,[498]		2

In 1689, the King had ordered the boats between Dover and Calais to be discontinued until further notice. This was done "on account of the late discovery of treasonable designs against the Government" and the war with France. His Majesty "preferred that all interchange of letters with France should cease."[499]

In 1744, the sailing packets of Great Britain and Ireland, excluding those employed in the domestic service, were as follows: four boats between Falmouth and Lisbon, four on the Harwich station, six between Dover and Calais or Ostend, two between Gibraltar and Lisbon, and two on the Minorca station. The use of sailing packets to Gibraltar and Minorca was made necessary by the war. From twenty to twenty-six additional men were added to each of the eighteen packets as a protection against the enemy, and the total additional yearly charge was £7045.[500] This is one of the items which made postal expenses run so high in time of war, to say nothing of the packets captured by the enemy. The three boats between Dover and Calais were sent to Harwich, Helvoetsluys, and Ostend for the time being.[501]

The practice of the Post Office until 1821 had been to contract for the supply of packet boats, paying only a nominal sum for their hire and allowing the contractors to have the receipts from passengers. In 1818 a private company established steamboats between Holyhead and Dublin, and the public preferred these to the sailing packets. The number of passengers by the government packets fell off nearly one half. Something had to be done at once, for, as the receipts from fares decreased, the contractors clamoured for higher pay. The steamboat company offered to carry the mails for £4 a trip and later for nothing, but the Post Office determined to have steam packets of its own.[502] Two, built by Boulton and Watt, under the inspection of the Navy Board, were placed on the Holyhead station in 1821, and these, as well as those introduced later on the other stations, were the property of the Crown.[503]

The fares by the steam packets at Holyhead were fixed at the same rates as those charged by the company's boats and these fares were somewhat higher than those formerly charged by the sailing packets. For instance, the fee for a cabin passenger had been one guinea, for a horse one guinea, and for a coach three guineas. These were now raised to £1 5s., £1 10s., and £3 5s. respectively. The new rates, which were so fixed in order not to expose the company to undue competition, had not been long enforced before the Select Committee on Irish Communications reported against them, and the Post Office reduced them to the old figures.[504]

In 1822 steam packets were placed on the Dover station, in 1824 they were introduced at Milford, in 1826 at Liverpool and Portpatrick, and in 1827 at Weymouth.[505] At Liverpool also a private company had offered to carry the mails but the offer was refused. This refusal, as well as the refusal to accept the Holyhead Company's offer, was condemned in a report of the Commissioners.[506] The new Liverpool packets ran from Liverpool to Kingstown, the Holyhead packets from Holyhead to Kingstown and Howth.[507] In 1828 the steam packets owned by the Crown numbered eighteen. They were distributed as follows: four at Liverpool, two of 300, one of 301 and one of 327 tons, all of 140 horse power; six at Holyhead, varying from 230 to 237 tons, all of 80 horse power; four at Milford, varying from 189 to 237 tons, all of 80 horse power; two at Portpatrick of 130 tons and 40 horse power; and two at Dover of 110 tons and 50 horse power.[508] Two years later, three steam packets were added to the Weymouth station.[509] In 1836, the Post Office had in use twenty-six steam packets, one having been added at Liverpool, three at Dover, and an extra one was kept for contingencies.[510]

With the exception of the Dover service for a few years, the steam packets were always a financial loss to the Post Office. The total disbursements for the Holyhead, Liverpool, Milford, and Portpatrick stations from 1821 to 1829 were £681,648, the receipts for the same period being only £250,999.[511] From 1832 to 1837 the disbursements for all the steam packets were £396,669, receipts £180,167.[512] The Milford boats were the least productive of any. From 1824 to 1836, the expenditure for that station was £220,986, the receipts only £26,592. The Commissioners had pointed out that not only was the practice of building and owning its own boats a mistake on the part of the Post Office, but they were very badly managed. For example, the stores for the Holyhead station were obtained from the postmaster at Liverpool, who invariably charged too much for them.[513] At Portpatrick the goods were supplied and the accounts checked in a very irregular manner.[514] At Dover the supplies were ordered by the mates, engineers, etc., as they were needed and the bills paid by the Post Office. There was no control over these officers, the accounts were not examined, and the bills were not certified by the commanders. There was no proof that the goods were even delivered. The agent, who forwarded the bills, was not a seaman nor had he any knowledge of ships' stores.[515] At Weymouth, where there were three steam packets for Jersey and Guernsey, conditions were better. The agent was a practical seaman, the demands for supplies were examined by him before being granted, and were signed by him, by the commander, and by the engineers or whoever needed them. The Commissioners also protested against sending the Weymouth boats so far for repairs as Holyhead, which was the regular repair station of the Post Office. Apart from the steam packets stationed at Holyhead, Liverpool, Milford, Portpatrick, Weymouth, and Dover, all the other packets employed by the Post Office were hired permanently or temporarily.[516]

The Post Office was at no time entirely dependent upon its regular sailing packets for the carriage of the mails. The merchant marine of England had been increasing with her growing commerce, and provision was made in the acts of 1657 and 1660 for the carriages of letters by private vessels. By the latter of these acts the conveyance of letters to foreign countries had been restricted to English ships under a penalty of £100 for every offence. It was decided in 1671, on the occasion of the wreck of one of the regular Irish packets, that it would be better to use a Dutch-built ship on account of its being much more seaworthy in the choppy swell of the Irish sea. Accordingly an order-in-council was issued, allowing a vessel built in Holland to be used, and providing for its naturalization.[517] By the act of 1660, letters arriving in private vessels were to be given to the postmaster at the port of arrival so that they might be forwarded to London to be despatched to their destination after being charged with the postage due. Masters of vessels were offered no inducement to deliver the letters to the postmaster nor was any liability incurred by neglecting to do so. The post farmers, however, agreed to pay a penny for every letter delivered by a captain on his arrival. This was the origin of ship letter money.[518]