2-791-436 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Mail Packet from Alexandria, off Marseilles - the Indian Mail on board, 1844. Postal service between Britain and India: 'The India Mail - comprehending all the mails from the departments of the East - is made up at Bombay. It consists of bundles of letters, so packed, in strong iron boxes...these boxes are stamped with a crown, and the words, "GENERAL POST OFFICE - INDIA MAIL." The boxes, sealed and numbered, are put on board a powerful steamer, and sent direct to Suez, at the head of the Red Sea; then they are transmitted across the Desert in light carts, to Cairo, where they are shipped on the canal, and towed, or steamed, according to circumstances, to Alexandria', and thence across the Mediterranean. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I.