Lot
788 
Pr Steamer Empire City Aug 16, manuscript sender's endorsement at lower left of cover with manuscript "Pd" (Paid) at upper right, no postal markings, on buff cover to San Francisco, minor toning at upper left, Very Fine and rare.Estimate $400 - 600.
The S.S. "Empire City" (1700 tons) was owned variously by Howard & Son's Empire Line; the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (PMSC), which held the mail contract on the Pacific portion of the Panama Route; and the United States Mail Steamship Company (USMSC), which held the mail contract on the Atlantic portion of the Panama Route. Howard & Son's were early competitors to the USMSC on the Atlantic side of Panama. The PMSC acquired the "Empire City" from Howard & Son's and became competitors on the Atlantic side after the Law's Line affair in 1850. That event led the Post Office Department to require that mail agents accompany the mails on all contract sailings by the PMSC and the USMSC. The USMSC acquired the "Empire City" from the PMSC after the two subsidized steamship companies agreed to confine their seafaring activities to the sides of the Isthmus corresponding to their mail contracts.