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Via Nicaragua with Commodore Vanderbilt 1851-1857- Gordon Eubanks

This October 1854 cover from San Francisco to London was given to the letter bag operator Sullivan who applied a very faint red marking and provided it to Vanderbilt’s agent to sail on the Sierra Nevada, departing 24 October, arriving San Juan del Sur 6 November. After crossing Nicaragua, the letter departed San Juan del Norte, 7 November on the Northern Light, arriving in New York, 14 November. The letter had traveled privately to New York and arrived at the Foreign Mail Office without having been canceled, so the stamps were canceled with the “19” handstamp. The letter left New York, 15 November for Liverpool on the Cunard steamer Arabia and arrived in London, 27 November. Occasionally letters arriving in New York from Nicaragua did not receive postmarks.

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