Today in Postal History

France to United States
February 3, 1877

This folded letter was sent by the firm of Eglin & Maring in Havre to New York City.
Their transmittal stamp indicates a February 3rd posting.

The letter bears two double CDS for Le Havre.
The stamp is most likely the 40c orange on yellowish paper of 1870 (Scott 59).
There are several shades and two types of this stamp but I cannot make an identification.

The sender selected the transatlantic carrier.
Par Sts.(?) Pommerania indicated the use of the Hamburg-American Packet steamer of that name.
From 1869 to 1889 the Hamburg-American Line ran a circle route from
Hamburg to Havre to New York to Plymouth to Cherbourg to Hamburg.
They had eight or so ships plying this route on regular schedules.
A round trip was alotted about six weeks.

The SS Pommerania had been added in 1873 with a displacement of 3382 tons.
This was part of a general growth in the size of the ships of the fleet from 3000 to 3500 tons.

The Pommerania made its first run leaving Hamburg on December 3. 1873.
Her history seems unveventful until November 26, 1878,
when she was rammed and sunk off Dover with a loss of 48 lives.

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