Description:

1856 entire letter headed "Launceston/4 Feb 1856" & signed "Richd Green" to London "p Hellespont" with very fine Star Wmk 4d blue SG 18 (full margins, with a fragment of the adjoining unit at left) tied by fair BN '60' cancel, diamond 'POST OFFICE/LAUNCESTON/[crown]/6FE6/VDL/1856' d/s in red alongside, London arrival b/s of 5MY5/1856 in red & rated "10". A quite superb Classic cover. Carried by Bass Strait vessel to Melbourne; then per "Hellespont", departed 18/2/1856, via the Indian Ocean & arrived Singapore 16/3/1856; per P&O "Norna" to Galle; "Bombay" to Suez; & "Pera", arriving Southampton 4/5/1856. [4d paid postage to Melbourne only. The 10d charge was 4d Singapore-Bombay + 6d packet rate to London. The letter concerned the insolvent estate of the late Stuart Harvey]



During the Crimean War many P&O ships were pressed into naval service & mail services became infrequent & reliant upon private shipping. The "Hellespont" was a coastal steamer that was sent to Singapore to be sold. This is a famous voyage, from which little surviving mail is recorded. This is the only recorded "Hellespont" cover from Tasmania. Colin Tabeart at page 168 states "...the one letter seen via Southampton - this item? - was stamped at London on 5 May". See also Lot 105.