| SR50 |
Incoming Blockade Cover from England to Spartanburg, South Carolina via Charleston
from the well-known and well-documented Grimball Correspondence. Cover
originated in London, England and was sent in a closed locked mail bag
on a Cunard steamer through New York to Nassau, Bahamas where the bag
was opened and the cover put on a blockade runner for Charleston. Most
likely the cover was carried on the Cunard Blockade Mail run by the
Cunard trans-Atlantic Steamship Asia which departed Liverpool 2/13/1864 and arrived in New York 2/28/1864 and then transferred to the Cunard West Indies Steamship Corsica
arriving in Nassau 3/4/1864. British postage for the Liverpool to
Nassau run would have been pre-paid in England under a separate cover.
The final stage was a blockade runner from Nassau arriving in
Charleston 3/18/1864 where the cover entered the Confederate mail with
the Charleston SC large single rim CDS 18 MAR (1864) and the oval STEAM-SHIP handstamp Type B and manuscript "12"
for 12c due on delivery (10c for inland mail delivery to Spartanburg +
2c ship fee paid to the captain of the blockade runner). Period
receiving docketing indicates that the original letter was from
"J G (John Grimball)" and dated 24 Jany 1864." Very Fine.
Ex-Kohn.
The cover is from Lt John Grimball CSN to his father.
John Grimball (1840-1922) an
1858 graduate of the US Naval Academy and from a very prominent
Charleston SC family, was a Lieutenant in the Confederate States Navy.
He served on various Confederate vessels until being assigned to
England as a navy purchasing agent which would coincide with the time
of this cover. Later in 1864, he served
on the
famous CSS Shenandoah until the ship surrendered in November 1865. Lt
Grimball has the distinction of being present at Fort Sumter when the
first shot of the war was fired and on the CSS Shenandoah when the last
shot of the war was fired in June 1865 when the ship, not knowing the
war was over, fired on Union
whaling vessels. This cover is listed in the Walske-Trepel book as
originating in France. Not true as Lt Grimball was assigned to England
arriving in January 1864, and there is no record of his operating in
France. |
$2,000.00
SOLD |
JLKCSA@aol.com
-- Confederate Order
Form --