Australia Mail Packets

About fourteen days ago we informed that there would be no screw steamer for December mail and we then wrote to the Postmaster General who replied that as the Post Office was under contract with the General Screw Company he could interfere in any way. Subsequently a gentleman connected with the latter, accompanied by their Liverpool agent, waited on us and offered the mail on certain terms which we declined and they left us stating that they would try the Red Jacket. It seems they did as the correspondence testifies and we heard no more about it until business took us to London when the negotiations were renewed and finished by the selection of the James Baines — a ship that on her passage from America (the first passage since she was launched) beat every ship on record including the Red Jacket. During the whole transaction the port of Southampton was never stipulated for and we saw nothing but the greatest desire on the part of the Post Office and the General Screw Company to meet the difficulty in a businesslike way.

The Times, November 27, 1854.

Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius

Sjöhistoriska Samfundet | The Maritime History Virtual Archives.