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Auction: 21042 - The Opium Wars Collection
Lot: 20

First Opium War
The Opium Trade
Opium Clipper Ships
Hercules: 1836 (26 Mar.) a letter of account written on board the 'Hercules' at Lintin Island to Edward Crooke in Canton, originally marked "pr Don Juan" but changes to "pr Rose"; there are no postal markings other than two Chinese ink delivery characters on the flap. Unfortunately the arrival notation has been written over part of the address panel and there is the usual light horizontal filing fold. Good mail from Lintin

Hercules was built at Calcutta in 1814. She traded between Britain and India under a license from the British East India Company, before returning to Calcutta registry. She then traded opium between India and China before becoming an opium receiving ship for Jardine Matheson. In 1839 she was one of the vessels that surrendered her store of opium to be burned at the behest of Chinese officials at Canton.


鴉片煙快速大飛艇 "Hercules": 1836年3月26日寫於伶仃島航往廣州的'Hercules"之信函, 寄給廣州的Edward Crooke, 此住

Estimate
HK$6,000 to HK$8,000

Starting price
HK$4500