Lot 1628
Cuba, (New York via Bermuda to Cuba) 1867 (Mar. 28) St. Jago de Cuba, Cuba to New York N.Y., Lanman & Kemp correspondence folded letter bearing sharp "U.S. Mail Steamship, Fah Kee., 28 Mar 1867, St. Jago." (Milgram 434) ornately framed datestamp on backflap, New York "Steamship 10" in circle handstamp, Very Fine.Estimate $400 - 600.
On August 10th 1865 Capt. John Sterling purchased for $65,000 the wooden screw steamer "Fah Kee" from the U.S. Quartermasters. She was a U.S. Naval vessel during the Civil War. He contracted with New York's Waydell & Co. to run a regular mail packet from New York to St. Jago de Cuba. The contract with Waydell was run under the provisions of the Foreign Mails act of 1845 but only lasted three years as opposed to the normal ten years of the Act. The vessel was sold to the Bermuda authorities in 1868.
Realized: $475