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Auction: 26019 - Stamps and Covers of Great Britain
Lot: 1065

Great Britain
Postal History
1803 (3 Aug.), entire letter written from H.M. Ship Endymion, off Plymouth, by Lieutenant Thomas Graham, to his father Robert Graham at the Excise office in Edinburgh; manuscript rate markings on the front and "plymouth dock/220" mileage on the reverse; small closed tear extending to the front. Fine. The seaman writes "There were tree (sic) thousand Dollars on board one of the Brigs which was shared out directly my share was 58", An outstanding historically significant, and remarkably candid eyewitness account from a Commissioned Royal Navy executive capturing the high-stakes reality of officer command and informal prize distribution at the immediate outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars. Writing just months after the resumption of hostilities, Lieutenant Graham boasts of his critical role in the interception of a wealthy French convoy fleeing the Caribbean theatre, operating under the joint cruise of the legendary H.M.S. Endymion and the 74 gun H.M.S. Plantagenet

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Estimate
£400 to £500

Starting price
£280

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