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Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during the 18th and 19th centuries, and had regularly scheduled services.
In the 18th century, packet boats were put into use on the Atlantic Ocean between Great Britain and its colonies, where the services were called the packet trade. In the later 19th century, steam-driven packets were used extensively in the United States on the Mississippi and Missouri River rivers, supplying forts and trading posts.
In 1724, Daniel Defoe wrote about packet boats in his novel .The novel contains numerous references to them, and includes a section entitled " Sail in packet-boat to Rotterdam". In the mid-18th century England, the King maintained a weekly packet service with the continent and Ireland using 15 packet vessels. A Collection of Voyages and Travels, consisting of Authentic Writers in our own Tongue, which have not before been collected in English, or have only been abridged in other Collections Vol I., 1745, p.120 Their importance is evident from the fact that the first craft built in the colony of New South Wales (in 1789) was the Rose Hill Packet.
Over the two centuries of the sailing packet craft development, they came in various rig configurations which included: , schooners-brigs, , cutters, , , , , , , and their ultimate development in the clipper ships. Earlier they were also known as dispatch boats, but the service was also provided by privateers during time of war, and on occasion chartered private yachts. News of "record passages" was eagerly awaited by the public, and the craft's captain and crew were often celebrated in the press. Behind this search for sailing faster than the wind, however, lay the foundations for a development in naval architecture and its science which would serve until the appearance of the steam vessels.
In 1863, during the American Civil War, the packet boat Marshall carried the body of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson from Lynchburg to his home in Lexington, Virginia, for burial. Deborah Fitts, "Hull of Packet Boat That Carried Jackson's Body Is Protected" , Civil War News, Jan 2007, accessed 22 November 2008
Travelers could get from New York City to Buffalo in ten days, with a combination of sailing and packet boats. Some passengers took the boats to see both the Erie Canal and the natural landscapes. Significantly, thousands of others used packet boats to emigrate to Ohio and other parts of the Midwest. These boats were also instrumental in the settling of and travel within Upstate New York through the branch canals such as the Chenango Canal. Packet boats were also popular along the James River and Kanawha Canal in Virginia, allowing travel beyond the falls upriver.
However, the advantage for a steamship carrying mail was that its arrival would be advertised in advance in the newspapers, thus giving it "free advertising" as a travel option for passengers or cargo. In most cases, mail carried by mail steamers was delivered to the post office to which it was addressed. In some cases, the incoming mail would be advertised in the local newspaper for pickup at the post office or at the steamship's office for a fee, if not already fee-paid.
Occasionally, because of political instability when a post office could not provide normal services, incoming mail from a mail steamer would be delivered to a local delivery service, which would deliver the mail and charge the addressee an extra fee for the service. When this occurred, the local delivery service would place its own local service stamp or mark on the envelope when the extra fee was paid.
For instance, in late January 1840, the American Packet ship Patrick Henry arrived ahead of schedule and beat the competition to deliver the news from the continent for eager American readers. The Morning Herald (New York), 1 February, on the front page, reported: "The foreign news given today is highly important. Yesterday afternoon, about half past three, we received it at this office being a full hour before any of the Wall street papers had — and by five o'clock we issued an Extra, to gratify the immense crowd that surrounded our office. One of our clippers left town at 10 o'clock, and boarded the Patrick Henry outside the bar at about one o'clock."
news was advertised as "Ten Days Later From England—Highly Important" and included articles about war preparations by Russia, Queen Victoria's marriage that month, meetings of Parliament and the French Chamber, and the French King's speech.
"By the arrival of the Patrick Henry, Captain Delano, we have received immense files of English papers and periodicals, due to the 25th London, 26th from Liverpool and 23rd from Paris…Neither the Cambridge nor the Independence had arrived out on the 26th of Dec. The Patrick Henry had a fine run of nine days to the long(itude) of 38, where she took, on the 4th inst, strong westerly gales, which prevailed since that time without change." New York Herald, 1840 Feb 1.
in the speed of that communication was crucial for many commercial, financial and shipping business activities—speedier information made capital move faster, directly affecting world trade.
In 1840, the Patrick Henry was among twenty sailing packet ships on the New York–Liverpool run, and notably among the speediest. The short round trips, however, did not depend on speed, but rather changes in the schedule. Efficiency may have been improved by tightening schedules, but this may have exacerbated delays and errors of judgment.
For westbound sailings, there was a high risk of disaster. Nearly one packet in six was totally lost in service. This means that out of 6,000 crossings, about 22 ended in such wrecks.Albion, Robert Greenhalgh. Square-riggers on Schedule: The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938), p. 202 More than 600 British ships, of all types, were lost each year in between 1833 and 1835 and 1841 and 1842. The loss of lives varied between 1,450 and 1,560.Laakso, Seija-Riitta. "Across the Oceans: Development of Overseas Business Information Transmission, 1815–1875". Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, Tampere Tammer-Paino, 2007. PDF. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <>.
By the time of the maiden voyage of the Patrick Henry, in 1839, packet captains had begun taking more risks against their competitors as steamships were coming into service. Indeed most shipwrecks took place during the period when the competition between sail and steam was hardest. From a mail, business and journalism transmission point of view, the trend was most alarming.
Between 1838 and 1847 no less than 21 mail-carrying ships were lost on the North Atlantic route—two each year on average. Two of the ships were Falmouth packets and two were steamers, while 17 were American sailing packets. Eight were on the New York–Liverpool route, two on the Boston–Liverpool route, two on the New York–London route, and five on the New York–Havre route. Six of the ships just disappeared, and were lost with all hands. It is notable that two out of every three wrecks took place in November–February, indicating that the packet captains took too heavy risks, especially during the rough winter sailings. The only precautionary measure to ensure solid business information transmission across the Atlantic was to send duplicates. This was very typical during the shift period. The duplicates also ensured the fastest possible dispatch of information.Laakso, 103
Most mail—especially eastwards—was still carried by sailing ships during the first decade after the advent of the transatlantic steamship service.Laakso, 128
Even if the size of the sailing packets grew markedly, their service speed did not follow the trend after the introduction of steamships on the route in the late 1830s. After 1835, there seems to be no signs of speed improvements.
Another phenomenon which indicates that the sailing packets were losing their hold on the first class business—mail, fine freight and cabin passengers—was that they no longer cared about the punctuality of the sailing dates as much as they did in the 1830s. If the reliability of a mail ship service is measured by the regularity of sailings and the safety records, the performance of the American sailing packets in the mid-1840s was noticeably below such expectations.Laakso, 100
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