Post Office Packet Service

Packet can mean a small parcel but, originally meant a parcel of important correspondence or valuable items, for urgent delivery [Oxford English Dictionary - "Packet":

"A small pack, package, or parcel. In later use freq.: the container or wrapping in which goods are sold; packaging; a bag or envelope for packing something in. Also: the contents of a packet. In early use chiefly used of a parcel of letters or dispatches, esp. the state parcel or mail in which letters to and from foreign countries were carried. "

] .

Many states, civilisations and organisations have set up Mail systems for high value goods, especially confidential correspondence and bullion. The combative and imperialist states of modern Europe developed mail systems for overseas transport of "Packets". In times of war, regular shipments ran the gauntlet of pirates and privateers.

Eventually, however, commercial steam liners began to work regular international schedules and received contracts from Governments to carry mail, as well as passengers and high-value cargo. Their services retained the name "Packet".

British packet service

The British Government, being insular, had a particular need for seaborne communications, working to a regular secure timetable. The Packet Service run by the UK General Post Office, from Tudor times until 1823, using small, fast, lightly armed ships. Routes included: :Ireland: Dublin, Dún Laoghaire (previously Kingstown), Waterford.:Isle of Man.:Europe, via Calais, the Hook of Holland, Heligoland.:North, Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands, :Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Italy, Greece (Corfu was a British Protectorate from 1815 to 1864), Egypt.

The "Stations from which the packet ships departed were: Dover, Harwich, Great Yarmouth, Falmouth, Plymouth, Milford Haven and Holyhead.

Falmouth Station

The Falmouth Station is the subject of several studies: Arthur Norway (1895) [Arthur H Norway (1895). An ancestor of Arthur Norway was a Packet Ship Captain. He tells his glorious tale 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). He gives a valuable insight into naval views in the War of 1812.] , Susan Gay (1903) [Gay, Susan Elizabeth (1903). Miss Susan Gay's grandfather was the Post-office's Agent in Falmouth.] and Tony Pawlyn (2003) [Tony Pawlyn (2003)] . 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 [Arthur H Norway (1895) Chapter 6-10] .

Mutiny

In 1810, there was a mutiny, over pay levels. The previously-authorised trading by sailors, was now called "smuggling". This supplement to poor wages banned. In punishment for the refusal to man ships, the Packet Station was briefly and unsuccessfully moved to Plymouth. Lobbying by a delegation from Falmouth and by Cornwall's forty-four Members of Parliament. After considering Fowey as an alternative station, the Post Office agreed to the return of the service to Falmouth in January 1811 [Arthur H Norway (1895) Chapter 10 pp.197-221] .

Admiralty control

In 1823, the administration of the Packet Service was given to the Admiralty. Older packet vessels were replaced with naval ships made redundant by the peace that had followed the end of the Napoleonic wars. These were unsuitable for packet use and referred to as "floating coffins" by seamen.

Steam power

Steam vessels started to replace sail in 1830 and this enabled a more regular and predictable service to be operated.

In 1843, Falmouth merchants persuaded H.M. Government not to move the Packet Station to Southampton, now served by a railway [cite book
last = Fox
first = Robert Barclay
authorlink = Barclay Fox
title = Barclay Fox's journal
editor = ed. by Raymond Brett
publisher = Bell and Hyman
date = 1979
location = London
id = ISBN 0-7135-1865-0 and U.S.:Totowa, N.J., Rowman & Littlefield ISBN 0-8476-6187-3 - p.345.] . In 1850, the Packet Service run by the British state was disbanded and replaced by contracts with companies running other regularly timetabled services. Falmouth ceased to be a Packet Station. The last packet arrived in that port on April 30, 1851.

Ships with the contract to carry mail were designated Royal Mail Ship. This change was administered by Admiral Parry.

Later developments

"Packet" came mean a regularly scheduled ship, carrying passengers, as in Packet trade, whether or not official Post-Office mail was carried. "see" Packet (sea transport).

References

* Arthur Hamilton Norway (1895)"The Post-Office Packet service: between the years 1793 and 1815, complied 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.

* Tony Pawlyn (2003) "The Falmouth Packets", Truran, Truro ISBN 1-85022-175-8

* [http://www.xjt60.dial.pipex.com/ Online archive of the Falmouth Packet Service station]

* [http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/collections/archive/transport/sea/index_html?searchterm=packet British Postal Museum - Search term "Packet".]

* [http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?page=Explore_the_Museum&id=58 National Maritime Museum Cornwall-Cornwall collection]