Lot 1012
Philadelphia Full Rigged Sailing Ship, complete strike on 1834 folded letter from Grand Bossa, Liberia to "Greenport, Southold, Long Island, N.Y.", matching "Phila, 8, May" octagonal postmark and red manuscript "14½" rate; small tear at top into ship marking, Fine.
Letter is a 2½-page ALS from Ezekiel Skinner to his wife. It is dated btn Dec 24th and 30th, and tells of an illness he is suffering from. As he recovers, he reports on conditions in Liberia among other things, "…one of the bodies of the men that drowned…drifted on shore yesterday a mere skeleton, all the flesh having been devoured by sharks…".
Estimate 750 - 1,000
Dr. Ezekiel Skinner (1777-1855), was an M.D. and Baptist minister. Upon the death of his son, the Rev. Benjamin Rush Skinner, a missionary in Liberia, Dr. Skinner decided to go to Liberia himself. He spent four years there as Colonial Physician and for more than a year, from August of 1835 until September of 1836, served as Liberia's Governor.
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