Packet trade

The packet ship (English: packet ship or packet boat, short packet; French: paquebot ) is a term used from the 16th century to the 19th century ship type.

History

Package ships went from the 16th and 17th century English as a post- barks designated postal sailors out what wrong with mail, goods and passengers between two ports. In the 16th century, named state mailings (see beginnings of the Royal Mail ), as official documents, telegrams, etc., as " The Packet ". A report by the Royal British Treasury from 1598 states: " Postes toward Ireland, Holly Heade, allowance as well for serving the packket by country as for entertainig a bark to carie over and return the packet x pounds the Moneth " (in a sense: it will be provided to transport monthly shipments overland to Holyhead and by means of a postal sailor to Ireland and back) means.

The General Post Office built at this time a named as a Post Office Packet Service service on with also explicitly mentioned as a "packet boats" little sailors. These ships were armed usually with ten to twelve smaller guns and were used in the transportation of official mail, high-ranking passengers and freight special on distant lines. Was the distribution area initially rather limited to Europe, and later all other areas of the British Empire were served. Other countries are also built to similar services. Many of these vessels contributed collective designations which were composed of the destination and the word " packet" (Baltimore packets, packets Sydney, etc.). Until the 18th century, the design of packet ships compared to conventional freight sailors had changed by finer lines and resultantly higher speeds.

Your outstanding position lost the package ships with the introduction of the steamship. More and more states shifted the transport of important mail at subsidized Mailboats private Dampschiffsreedereien. Their outstanding importance was reflected in many countries by shipping company name components as "steam packet line" or name additions such as "RMS" for Royal Mail Ship of such vessels present down. in Germany they found the term, for example in the Hamburg-American Packet ride Actien -Gesellschaft ( Hapag ) again.

In the French -speaking world, the term " paquebot " continue to be used with varying meanings to this day and is looking today for a passenger ship in regular service.