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Auction: 17025 - Bermuda, Crossroads of the Atlantic: A Postal History from 1617 to 1877 - The David Pitts Collection
Lot: 110

(x) Packet Letters
The Cunard Line, 1833-1886
The last Admiralty packet left Falmouth on 6 June 1840, Thereafter Cunard steamers assumed the transatlantic route under contract to the Admiralty, using Liverpool as their home base. From January 1848, Cunard's transatlantic service altered weekly between Boston and New York, however after July 1848 the New York steamers did not stop at Halifax. There are five different routes
The Levantine Crisis
The Levantine was registered to Cunard on 1 November 1851, intended for the Halifax-Bermuda run. She arrived in Halifax on 26 November. On her first trip she developed a serious leak and had to return to port, requiring two months for repairs. She was to experience a number of mechanical problems until she was removed from service in April 1853
1852-53 range of covers (25) carried during the Levantine crisis, three from Bermuda (Hamilton, Ireland Island and St. George's) and twenty-two from England to Bermuda carried on a variety of Levantine or replacement sailings and including first successful trip of the Levantine, 2nd. trip, 3rd. trip (2), 4th. trip, 5th. trip (2, one from Newfoundland), 6th. trip, 12th. trip, 15th. trip, 16th. trip, and 18th. and last trip, these covers interspersed with thirteen replacement sailings. A remarkable holding of these covers fully demonstrating the unreliability of steam in the early days. Photo

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Estimate
£3,000 to £4,000