, which in no instance shall exceed 10s. 6d.
sterling." This was the year in which Paul Jones visited the Firth of
Forth, and was spreading terror all round the coasts. The following was
the service of the packets in the year 1780. Five packets were employed
between Dover and Ostend and Calais, the despatches being made on
Wednesdays and Saturdays. Between Harwich and Holland three were
employed, the sailings in this case also taking place on Wednesdays and
Saturdays. For New York and the West India Service twelve packets were
engaged, sailing from Falmouth on the first Wednesday of every month.
Four packets performed the duty between Falmouth and Lisbon, sailing
every Saturday; and five packets kept up the Irish communication,
sailing daily between Holyhead and Dublin. In the year 1798, a mail
service seems to have been kept up by packets sailing from Yarmouth to
Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe, respecting which the following
particulars may be interesting. They are taken from an old letter-book.
"The passage-money to the office is 12s. 6d. for whole passengers, and
6s. 6d. for half passengers, either to or from England; 6d. of which is
to be paid to the Captain for small beer, which both the whole and half
passengers are to be informed of their being entitled to when they
embark.

"1s. 6d. is allowed as a perquisite on each whole passenger, 1s. of
which to the agent at Cuxhaven for every whole passenger embarking for
England, and the other 6d. to the agent at Yarmouth; and in like manner
1s. to the agent at Yarmouth on every whole passenger embarking for the
Continent, and 6d. to the agent at Cuxhaven; but no fee whatever is to
be taken on half passengers, so that 10s. 6d. must be accounted for to
the Revenue on each whole passenger, and 6s. on each half passenger."

Half passengers were servants, young children, or persons in low
circumstances.

While touching upon passage-money, it may be noted that in 1811 the fare
from Weymouth to Jersey or Guernsey, for cabin passengers, was, to the
captain, 15s. 6d. and to the office 10s. 6d.--or L1, 6s. in all.

The mail packets performing the service between England and Ireland in
the first quarter of the present century were not much to boast of.
According to a survey taken at Holyhead in July 1821, the vessels
employed to carry the mails between that port and Dublin were of very
small tonnage, as will be seen by the following table:--

Uxbridge,