Cultural Artefact
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South Seas Companion
Cultural Artefact
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Packet BoatPacket |
| In the eighteenth century, a Packet Boat, or Packet as it was more often called, was a ship appointed by government to carry letters, packets, and official documents as speedily as possible. |
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In England, the carriage of letters by vessels under royal patent appears to date back to Tudor times, and the term packet boat appears to have been in general usage by the early seventeenth century. The first Act by the English Parliament establishing a post office in the American Colonies was passed in April, 1692. Postal historian John J McCusker suggests that the first trans-Atlantic packet service between New York England and its American colonies began in 1702. |
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Published by South Seas, 1 February 2004 Comments, questions, corrections and additions: Paul.Turnbull@jcu.edu.au Prepared by: Paul Turnbull Updated: 28 June 2004 To cite this page use: http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-biogs-P000097 |