Route Agent Richard B. Graham submits the cover illustrated in Figure 1, providing the first example that I have seen of a very scarce rate to Uruguay, a rate unlisted in both Starnes and Wawrukiewicz/Beecher Ref. 1. Actually, the 11¢ rate to Uruguay was a published rate, but apparently missed by the authors of the two rate studies mentioned.
From July 1875, there were two rates for letters from the United States to Uruguay. The first was a 27¢ rate per 15 grams or one half ounce by way of the United Kingdom and British mail service to Uruguay. Prepayment was compulsory. This rate consisted of the 5¢ General Postal Union rate to the United Kingdom plus 22¢ for British service to Uruguay (one penny less than the 12 pence rate from the United Kingdom to Uruguay). Interestingly, this rate was not listed in the Postal Guide until July 1876, a year after it went into effect Ref. 2. The rate listed in the Postal Guide to Uruguay was the second of the two rates, 23¢ per 15 grams or one half ounce by United States packet to Brazil. The Postal Guide stated that mail to the Argentine Confederation, Paraguay and Uruguay was via Rio de Janeiro through the Brazil Post Department and was subject to an additional charge by the Brazil office. Both rates went into effect on 1 July 1875. The 27¢ rate continued until Uruguay joined the Universal Postal Union on 1 July 1880. The 23¢ rate, however, was listed for the final time in the October 1876 Postal Guide and did not appear in the January 1877 or later Guides. Referring to mail to the Argentine Confederation, Paraguay and Uruguay, the July 1876 Postal Guide stated “The most reliable and regular mail communication with the above places is, via England in British mail, but is occasionally had via Rio de Janeiro through the Brazil Post Department…” Since the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company ceased operations from New York to Brazil in the fall of 1875, this statement is quite understandable Ref. 3. With the collapse of that steamship company the 23¢ rate could only be used if an occasional vessel to Brazil could be found to carry the mail.
The New York and Brazil Steamship Company started up again in May 1878 for another three years. It was during the operations of this second line that the 11¢ rate per 15 grams or one half ounce was introduced. The rate was first listed in the July 1879 Postal Guide for mail from the United States to Uruguay via Brazil and Buenos Aires. Prepayment was required. Also listed by this route were rates for registered mail, for an additional 10¢, and printed matter. The 11¢ rate consisted of the 5¢ General Postal Union rate to Brazil plus 6¢ for mail service from Brazil to Argentina. By July 1879 both Brazil and Argentina were members of the Universal Postal Union Ref. 4. Since the route is listed to Buenos Aires, I presume that mail went in closed bags to Argentina and the Universal Postal Union credit from the prepayment went to Argentina. Transit postage from Argentina to Uruguay was due from the addressee. The 11¢ rate continued until 1 July 1880, when it and the 27¢ rate, were replaced by the 5¢ Universal Postal Union rate.
The cover shown in Figure 1 originated in Altoona, Pennsylvania on 9 March 1880. It was addressed to “Lieut. J.W. Graydon, Pacific Squadron, care – U.S.N Dept., Washington D.C.” Apparently, the letter writer did not know where Lt. Graydon was located so he (or she) addressed the letter to the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. Actually, Lt. Graydon was not in the Pacific Squadron but in the South Atlantic Squadron. The Navy Department readdressed the letter in bright red ink to “U.S. Str. Shenandoah, S.A.S. [South Atlantic Squadron], Monte Video, Uruguay.”
A short biography in the 1881 Naval Encyclopædia tells us a little about Lt. Graydon Ref. 5 John W(eir) Graydon was born in Indiana and appointed to the Naval Academy from that state. He graduated a midshipman (with 73 other midshipmen) on 4 June 1869. He served on various vessels in the North Atlantic, European, and South Atlantic Squadrons. He was promoted to ensign in July 1870, master in March 1873, and lieutenant in November 1877. He resigned from the naval service in September 1884. In 1879, Lt. Graydon was assigned to the U.S.S. Shenandoah, flagship of the South Atlantic Squadron. This vessel was a wooden hull, screw sloop of war built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commissioned on 20 June 1863 Ref. 6. She was decommissioned in April 1865 and re-entered service in November 1865 to operate with the Asiatic Squadron. She was decommissioned again in May 1869 and re-entered service in August 1870 to deploy to the European Squadron. She was decommissioned again in April 1874 and re-entered into service in September 1879, this time for service in the South Atlantic Squadron. Shenandoah sailed for Brazil on 4 October 1879 to serve as the flagship of Rear Admiral Andrew Bryson who commanded the South Atlantic Squadron. Her duties included watching over American interests in the region while cruising between Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires.
The Figure 1 cover was prepaid 3¢ with a Plimpton Manufacturing Company stamped envelope for the internal rate to Washington, D.C. There, officials in the Navy Department crossed through the original address and readdressed the letter. They added two Bank Note adhesives, a 3¢ green and a 5¢ Taylor, to make the full 11¢ rate to Uruguay. The added adhesives were postmarked in Washington, D.C. on 10 March 1880. The letter was sent to New York where it waited for the next mail steamer to Brazil. New York postal clerks marked the red circular datestamp of 5 April to indicate the date they forwarded the letter. On 5 April 1880, the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company steamship City of Rio departed New York for St. Thomas and Rio de Janeiro, arriving there on the estimated date of 2 May 1880 Ref. 7 Since there is no Rio de Janeiro postmark we can assume the mail was in a closed bag for Buenos Aires. Figure 2 illustrates the reverse of the cover. Backstamps confirm arrival at Buenos Aires on 11 May 1880. From there, the letter was carried across the LaPlata river mouth to Montevideo. There is a partially struck datestamp of 12 May 1880 reading LISTAS, a postmark of the head office in Montevideo. This marking was used on mail that did not have an exact delivery address and that had been placed on a list of mail held at the main office waiting to be picked up.
Of the 11¢ prepayment, the United States was able to retain only the Universal Postal Union rate of 5¢. The remaining 6¢ was credited to Union member Argentina. Convention articles of the 1874 Berne treaty established postal handling requirements within the Union Ref. 8. In the Detailed Regulations to this treaty, Article 6, Item 9 stated that credits and debits had to be expressed in francs and centimes. On this cover, just above the readdressed location of “Montevideo, Uruguay” in the lower left corner, is a red pencil “30.” This was marked by a postal clerk in New York as the United States credit to Argentina. The value was 30 centimes or 6¢. At the destination In Uruguay, postage was still required for transit from Buenos Aires. Uruguay was not a member of the Universal Postal Union in May 1880 so the letter could not be paid to destination. The large black “20” in a circle shows this postage due in Uruguay of 20 centesimos.
1 Charles J. Starnes, United States Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations 1847 to GPU–UPU, Revised Edition (Louisville, Kentucky: Leonard H. Hartmann, 1989), p. 47; Anthony S. Wawrukiewicz and Henry W. Beecher, U.S. International Postal Rates, 1872-1996 (Portland, Oregon: Anthony S. Wawrukiewicz, 1996), p. 57.
2 United States Official Postal Guide (Boston: H.O. Houghton and Company and New York: Hurd and Houghton), issued quarterly from October 1874 (No 1.) to June 1879 (No. 20), then monthly until January 1880, when an extensive issue was published to start each year and smaller supplements monthly thereafter.
3 John L. DuBois, “The United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Companies 1866-1893,” The Congress Book 1998 (Santa Clara, California: The American Philatelic Congress, 1998), pp. 1-37.
4 Effective 1 April 1879, the convention of the Universal Postal Union concluded at Paris, 1 June 1878, superceded that of the General Postal Union concluded at Berne, 9 October 1874.
5 A Naval Encyclopædia, Comprising A Dictionary of Nautical Words and Phrases; Biographical Notices, and Records of Naval Officers (Philadelphia: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1881), p.963.
6 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 8 Vols. (Washington, DC: Department of Navy, 1959-81), Vol. VI, pp. 480-82.
7 DuBois, op. cit., p. 33.
8 U.S. 19 Statutes at Large 577-609.
