1829 Letter Canada to Isle of Wight - help sought

Covers and postal matters before 1840.
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earsathome
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Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:00 pm

1829 Letter Canada to Isle of Wight - help sought

Post by earsathome »

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Hello all,
We have received a query as follows:-

"I have been researching a crossed letter written in 1829 sent from Newfoundland Canada to the Isle of Wight England.
From the scans attached I wonder if you can establish what information can be gleaned from the post marks/strikes all of which are a bit faded."

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Our own 'take' on this is :-
Postmarks :-
Greenock Ship Letter unframed two straight line undated (according to our reference books, this should be a THREE line undated, as that was in use in the 1820s)

Manuscript charge mark of 1/11½ (one shilling and elevenpence plus the Scottish mail tax of ½d) This would be made up of various components 8d single ship charge from
Newfounland, plus the inland charge from Port of landing (in this case Greenock ). The land cost of between 400 and 500 miles was 1shilling and two pence, This makes a total of 1/10½ so it is one penny short of what is shown. There should be a charge for the ferry across to the Isle of Wight... would that be the extra 1d ??

Additional ½d stamp applied in Greenock listed as in use from 1-4-1824 to 20-8-1833
(Type IIA 16.5mm x 15mm - The Scottish Additional Halfpenny Mail Tax - Hodgson and Sedgewick) (This indicates the letter must have travelled by road partly in Scotland)

Greenock date stamp Nov 20 1829 London transit stamp in red No 23 1829 (This is the usual three days taken from Scotland to London by mailcoach in the 1820s)

The whole amount would have to have been paid by Captain Wyatt as the recipient, as there are no PAID markings on the letter that we could see, and letters did not have to be prepaid until the 1850s.
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We would appreciate if anyone can make further suggestions and/or confirm/deny our own findings.
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