SR51

Incoming Blockade Cover England to Charleston SC. Extensive Walske notation on the back documents the history of the cover and the original enclosure which is no longer with the cover. Addressed to Theo D. Wagner Esq, Messer John Fraser & Co., Charleston So. Ca. The original letter was datelined "Liverpool Jun 5 1863." The letter was sent most likely under separate cover, with the British postage pre-paid, in a closed locked mail bag on the Cunard trans-Atlantic steamship Scotia which departed Liverpool 6/6/1863 arriving in New York 6/16/1863. The locked bag was transferred to the Cunard West Indies steamship Corsica arriving in Nassau 6/24/1863 where the bag was opened. The cover has no postal markings and did not enter the Confederate mail. Manuscript "Baltic" at upper left in the same hand as the address indicates that the sender designated the Baltic as the blockade runner which was to take the cover into Charleston. According to Walske's research, that did not happen. The cover instead was carried on the blockade runner Racoon which ran aground off Sullivan's Island on her thrid run and was burned by the crew. But the mail bag was saved, and the cover handcarried into Charleston. Very Fine. Ex-Walske, Ex-Kaufmann.

$500.00

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