The Dr. Alfred S. Martin Collection, Part 1: United States Postal History

EXTREMELY FINE. BELIEVED TO BE THE ONLY REPORTED EXAMPLE OF THIS "AMERICA" STRAIGHTLINE MARKING, APPRARENTLY APPLIED TO BLOCKADE-RUN MAIL FROM THE UNITED STATES TO ENGLAND VIA A CARIBBEAN PORT DURING THE TURBULENT AND DANGEROUS PERIOD OF THE QUASI-WAR WITH FRANCE.

During the height of conflict between England and France, the newly-formed United States found itself in a quasi-state of war with its old Revolutionary War ally, France, as a result of numerous attacks on American trade vessels by French privateers and the political intrigue known as the XYZ Affair. The danger to maritime trade and loss of ships disrupted transatlantic mail packets, a circumstance described by the writer of this letter in his opening remarks: "I rather wish than hope that you may have received the letters I have done myself the pleasure of writing, but the communication is now so interrupted that, (if I may judge from the few I received), not many letters from hence reach the place of their destination." and in closing, "The French privateers harrass the American Trade excessively, & in the West Indies they act as absolute pirates..." In response to fear of a French invasion of American soil, the Adams administration raised an army under the command of ex-President George Washington and former Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. However, war was eventually averted through diplomatic efforts.

The "America" and "A-B" handstamps, as well as the unusually long transit time (12 weeks) and 2sh rate, indicate that an extraordinary route was used to transport this letter from Baltimore to England. The "America" handstamp is of a style and type font identical to markings used at St. Kitts. During this period, England ran a regular West Indies packet service between its former American colonies and the British offices at St. Kitts and Tortola. The single letter rate for service between Baltimore and one of these ports would have been 4p, which is incorporated into the 2sh charge (4p plus 1sh ocean packet rate and 8p inland postage). The "America" marking may have been used to indicate the actual origin of mail arriving from a Caribbean port and to explain the additional 4p postage. The"A-B" marking may stand for "American Bag". Unfortunately, there is no official documentation to validate these suppositions.

This letter also refers to the quarantine of Baltimore during a severe Yellow Fever epidemic. It is accompanied by another letter from the same correspondent sent on March 12, 1798, and received in England on April 28, 1798, rated 9p (8p inland plus 1p ship captain's fee). In it the writer again refers to "the difficulties of communication between America & Europe... and the capture & non-arrival of the packets are very unpromising for the future." He closes, "We fear an immediate war with France, a circumstance that renders American vessels improper for our passage, & no packets have arrived." Evidently, this letter made a safe passage in less than seven weeks, and the addressee wrote a reply on the same lettersheet. (Image)