The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. The vessels generally also carried bullion, private goods and passengers. The ships were usually lightly armed and relied on speed for their security. However, Britain was at war almost continuously during the 18th and early 19th centuries with the result that packet ships did get involved in naval engagements with enemy warships and privateers, and were occasionally captured.
Packet boats, offering a regular scheduled mail service, had been in use for the route between Holyhead and Dublin (providing a mail connection between Britain and Ireland) since at least 1598; but for letters to and from continental Europe a different approach was taken: the post was entrusted to messengers, who would then make their own arrangements for conveying it across the Channel and beyond.[1] This messenger service was far from reliable, so in the 1630s Thomas Witherings set about establishing a regular Dover-Calais packet service and entered into negotiations with Flemish and French postmasters-general to negotiate for effective cross-border carriage of letters for mutual benefit of the nations concerned (and the messengers were promptly dismissed).[1]
To begin with, letters to and from Holland went via France; but in 1668 a regular packet service was set up in addition to run between Harwich and Helvoetsluys. By the 1680s packets were running to Ostend or Nieuport from Dover, as well as to Calais. The route to France, however, was then closed in 1689 following the start of the Nine Years' War.
In 1690 the packet service consisted of eleven vessels: three for the service to and from Ireland, two for Holland, two for Flanders and two for France (albeit the latter service was suspended). The other two packet boats worked out of Deal, and provided a mail service for warships and merchant vessels anchored in the Downs. In place of the Dover-Calais route, a packet service was established between Falmouth and Corunna in north-west Spain.
At the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1702, the service to France was again closed and the Iberian route was diverted to Lisbon. Also at this time, Edmund Dummer undertook to run a monthly packet service between Falmouth and the West Indies; problems arose, however (leaving Dummer bankrupt) and a West Indies service was not resumed until the 1740s.[2]
In 1744 there were four boats on the Falmouth station, four at Harwich, six at Dover, two based at Gibraltar and two at Minorca (while additional vessels, at various stations, provided packet services with Ireland, the Downs and several island communities). The following year additional vessels were procured for the resumption of the service between Falmouth and the West Indies, and before long packet ships were sailing from Falmouth to Buenos Ayres, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and San Domingo.[1]
Routes
Atlantic and Mediterranean
North, Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands,
Custom House Quay, Falmouth, destination of the Falmouth Mail Packet shipsInscription on Falmouth Packet Service memorial
Falmouth was a packet station since around 1688 and the station has been the subject of studies by Arthur Norway (1895),[3]Susan Gay (1903)[4] and Tony Pawlyn (2003).[5] During most of the 18th century and the early part of the 19th century, Britain was at war. The locale of Falmouth in Cornwall was favourable to the successful transmission of mail through the gauntlet of enemy naval ships and privateers. The value of the Falmouth Station grew as Napoleon implemented his Continental System, attempting to exclude British trade and communications with mainland Europe.[6]
In 1810 men of the packet service at Falmouth mutinied over pay levels. Previously, the sailors had been authorised to trade for their own account. When this was banned as smuggling, they objected to the resulting loss of income.
In punishment for the refusal to man ships, the Post Office moved the Falmouth Packet Station to Plymouth. Much lobbying of the Postmaster General and HM Treasury by a delegation from Falmouth and by Cornwall's forty-four members of Parliament followed. After considering Fowey as an alternative station, the Post Office agreed to return the service to Falmouth in January 1811.[7]
In 1843, Falmouth merchants persuaded H.M. Government not to move the packet station to Southampton, which was now served by a railway.[8] The last packet arrived at Falmouth on 30 April 1851, and the Cornwall Railway did not reach Falmouth until 1863.
Wartime service
Packets would sometimes encounter hostile vessels, with greater or lesser success.
The French captured His Majesty's packet Antelope three times, but in between, on 1 December 1793, she fought and captured a French privateer, the Atlante. Outgunned, outnumbered, and with all three officers dead or wounded, Antelope's crew triumphed after a desperate fight.
On 21 June 1798, the packet Princess Royal, under the command of Captain J. Skinner, was carrying mail to New York when she encountered a French privateer brig. The packet was armed with six cannons, and had 49 people on board, some of whom were passengers and boys. Still, a two-hour engagement ensued during which the passengers joined in by firing small arms. Eventually, the privateer gave up and sailed away. Later information suggested that the privateer was the Avanture, of Bordeaux, which was armed with fourteen long 4-pounder guns and two 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 85 men. In the engagement she suffered two killed and four wounded, and was so shot up that she had to return to her home port for repairs.[9]
"Captain William Rogers Capturing the Jeune Richard, 1 October 1807", by Samuel Drummond
Then on 15 May 1800, Captain Newman, late of the packet Jane, captured the Lisbon packet Marquis of Kildare. When a French privateer captured the Jane, it permitted Newman and some of his crew to go to Lisbon. On 29 April they sailed from Lisbon aboard the Marquis of Kildare, which was bound for Falmouth. Two weeks later, a French privateer captured the Marquis of Kildare and took off her captain, officers, and almost all the crew, except for three who hid themselves; Newman and four of his crew, as well as three passengers, a woman and her sick brother and father, also stayed on board. The privateer put on board a prize master and 17 crew, who steered her for Corunna. When they were about six leagues from Corunna, Newman, who had managed to secure a pistol, and his crew, who secured a cutlass and boarding pikes, managed to chase the French crew from the deck and to seize the vessel. Newman then put the French prize crew in a long boat, with provisions, and set them adrift. After further tribulations, the Marquis of Kildare reached St Ives, Cornwall, on 31 May.[10]
Another particularly notable combat occurred on 1 October 1807 when the packet ship Windsor Castle resisted and then captured the more heavily armed French privateer Jeune Richard. The action was sanguinary and the heroism of the British crew drew press attention.
Rossie capturing Princess Amelia, 1812
At the start of the War of 1812, Joshua Barney in the American privateerRossie captured the mail packet Princess Amelia after a short but intense fight on 16 September 1812. Rossie was armed with ten 12-pounder guns and one long 9-pounder on a pivot, and had a crew of 95; Princess Amelia was armed with four 6-pounders and two 9-pounders, and had a crew of 28. Princess Amelia had to strike after she had lost three men killed, including her captain, and 11 men wounded.[11]
Admiralty control
In 1823, the Admiralty took over the administration of the Packet Service. It replaced older packet vessels with naval ships made redundant by the peace that had followed the end of the Napoleonic wars.
Steam vessels started to replace sail in the 1830s and this enabled a more regular and predictable service to be operated.
Over time, there was a consolidation of packet stations. Most routes were transferred to Southampton, which had been linked to London by railway. Other ports handling packets include Liverpool (from 1840) and Plymouth (from 1850).
In 1850, the government disbanded the Packet Service. Instead, the Post Office contracted for the carriage of mail with companies running other regularly timetabled services. Ships with the contract to carry mail were designated Royal Mail Ship. This change was administered by Admiral Parry.
Later developments
Packet came to mean a regularly scheduled ship, carrying passengers, as in packet trade, whether or not official Post Office mail was carried.
↑ Joyce, Herbert (1893). The History of the Post Office from Its Establishment Down to 1836. London: Richard Bentley & Son.
↑ Norway, Arthur H. (1895). An ancestor of Arthur Norway was a packet ship captain, who tells his glorious tale on pp. 255, 256, 262, 263. The book largely consists of descriptions of notable encounters between packet-ships and the enemy (mostly French, Spanish and American). Norway gives a valuable insight into naval views in the War of 1812.
↑ Gay, Susan Elizabeth (1903). Miss Susan Gay's grandfather was the Post Office's agent in Falmouth.
Antelope was a West Indian packet ship launched in 1780. The French captured her in 1781, 1782, and finally, in 1794. She is most famous for a desperate single-ship action in 1793 when her crew captured a better-armed French privateer with a much larger crew.
The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was a shipping line established in 1823. It served cross-channel routes between Britain and Ireland for over a century. For 70 of those years it transported the mail. It was 'wound-up' by a select committee of the House of Lords in 1922 and finally liquidated in 1930.
HMS Belvidera was a Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate built in Deptford in 1809. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and continued a busy career at sea into the middle of the 19th century. In 1846 she was reduced to harbour service, in 1860 she became a receiving ship, and she was finally disposed of in 1906.
HMS Porcupine was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1777 and broken up in 1805. During her career she saw service in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.
Princess Amelia was launched in 1799 and became a packet for the British Post Office Packet Service, sailing from Falmouth, Cornwall. She sailed to North America, the West Indies, Mediterranean, and Brazil. In 1800 a French privateer captured her, but she returned to the packet service later the same year. Joshua Barney, in the American privateer Rossie , captured her on 16 September 1812, at the start of the War of 1812. The United States Navy took her into service as HMS Georgia, but then renamed her USS Troup. She served as a guardship at Savannah; the Navy sold her in 1815.
Snake was probably launched in Spain in 1802 and was a prize that came into British hands in 1808. Her first owner employed her a privateer, but in 1810 sold her. Thereafter she sailed between London or Plymouth and the Cape of Good Hope (CGH), or between 1809 and 1816 in the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth. Afterwards she sailed between London and South America. She was last listed in 1824.
Little Catherine was launched in 1801 at Bermuda, probably under another name. She was condemned in prize in May 1809 at Barbados and entered British registry that year. At that time she traded between Liverpool and Africa. In 1813 she became a temporary packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1813 the French Navy captured her and abandoned her after taking off her crew. The Royal Navy recovered her three days later. In 1814 an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her within two weeks. Her owner refused to pay salvage and turned her over to the Post Office which returned her to use as a Falmouth packet but renamed her Blucher, in honour of Prince Blucher who had helped defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The government sold Blucher in 1823. New owners returned her to the name Little Catherine and she continued to sail widely until she was last listed in 1845, having been sold to a Chinese owner. She was wrecked in October 1847.
Walsingham, launched in 1795, was a Falmouth packet. Shortly after her launch a French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. Her recapture gave rise to a court case. In 1815 she successfully repelled an American privateer in a notable single-ship action. She continued to serve the Post Office until 1826 when she was sold. She was wrecked in 1828.
Windsor Castle was launched at Yarmouth in 1804. She spent her entire 11-year career as a Falmouth packet, primarily on the Falmouth–Halifax–New York–Halifax–Falmouth route and the Falmouth–Leeward Islands–Falmouth route. She also sailed on some other voyages. She was involved in two notable single-ship actions. In the first, in 1807, she captured her attacker, a French privateer schooner, in a sanguinary encounter. In the second, in 1815, an American privateer captured her. A prize crew took her into Norfolk, Virginia, where she was sold at auction.
Duke of Montrose was a Falmouth packet launched in 1804. She participated in six single-ship actions. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured a French naval schooner but a year or so later a French privateer captured her. She returned to British hands some nine months later. During the War of 1812 she was able to drive off American privateers twice. An American frigate captured her in 1813 but gave her up to her crew, also putting onboard the crews of other vessels the frigate had captured. Then a French frigate also captured her and gave her up after disarming her. She was wrecked at Barbados in 1815.
Hinchinbrook was built in America in 1812. By 1814 she was carrying mails for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In May 1814 she repelled an attack by an American privateer in a single-ship action. She was wrecked in May 1816.
Queen Charlotte was built in Emsworth in 1801. She was a regular packet ship for the Post Office Packet Service, sailing out of Falmouth. She made several voyages across the Atlantic between late 1802 and 16 May 1805 when she was captured. She came back into British hands around 1806. The Post Office took her into temporary service between 1812 and 1817. In 1815, she was involved in a friendly fire incident. She then became a whaler off Peru in 1818. She remained in the Pacific Coast of South America until she was condemned there in 1820 as unseaworthy; she was last listed that same year. She may have been repaired and have continued to trade on the coast until 1822.
Townshend Packet was launched at Falmouth in 1800 as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service. She made numerous voyages between Falmouth and Lisbon and also sailed to the West Indies, Brazil, and the Mediterranean. She had two engagements with American privateers. In the first the Americans captured her, but then released her. In the second she repelled her attacker. A French frigate captured her in 1814 and then sank her.
Lady Mary Pelham was launched in 1811 as a packet based in Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. She repelled attack by privateers in 1812 and 1813, the latter being a notable and controversial engagement with an American privateer. Another American privateer captured her in February 1815 in the West Indies. New owners retained her name and between 1815 and at least 1824 she continued to sail to the Continent and South America.
Express Packet was built in France in 1807, probably under another name, and taken in prize circa 1808. From 1809 she sailed as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service out of Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1812 an American privateer captured her in a notable single ship action, but then returned her to her captain and crew after plundering her. Express stopped sailing as a packet in 1817 and then made one more voyage to Spain, after which she disappeared from online records.
Several vessels have been named Tartar:
Mary Ann was launched in 1807 at Liverpool. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then became a West Indiaman. From 1811 she became a Falmouth packet. In 1813 a United States privateer captured her.
Prince Adolphus was launched in 1795 at Falmouth, Cornwall as a packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service. She was involved in two notable incidents. In 1798, a French privateer captured her, but Prince Adolphus was ransomed in a transaction that required an amendment to a Bill before Parliament. In 1805 her crew mutinied in Falmouth before she set off on a cruise. The mutiny, subsequently joined by the crew of another packet, led the Post Office temporarily to move the packet service from Falmouth to Plymouth. An American privateer captured Prince Adolphus in 1812.
References
Arthur Hamilton Norway (1895) The Post-Office Packet service: between the years 1793 and 1815, compiled from records, chiefly official London, Macmillan.
Gay, Susan Elizabeth (1903). Old Falmouth: the story of the town from the days of the Killigrews to the earliest part of the 19th century. 14 Bishopsgate Street Without, London EC: Headley Brothers.
History of the post-office packet service between the years 1793–1815 (1895). (Macmillan and Co.).
Tony Pawlyn (2003) The Falmouth Packets, Truran, Truro ISBN1-85022-175-8
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