A wrecked French Brig

Cover which travelled from the island of Vlieland to Amsterdam in November 1871

Sometimes you just stumble upon an interesting piece of postal history by chance. A few weeks ago I enjoyed such a moment when I discovered the envelope depicted above. At first sight a very ordinary cover and - to be honest - even a bit ugly because of  the discolouring of the lower half. Still, I found myself struggling to put it aside and continue my search for covers which would suit my collections better. Several reasons tempted me though not to put the cover aside:

• The unusual location from which the cover was sent: the isle of Vlieland. 
• The unusual addressee of the cover: the French ambassador/consul to the Netherlands.
• The mysterious and quite attractive red wax seal on the reverse (see below).

In the end I bought the cover...

Vlieland

In November 1871 Vlieland could consider itself as the least populated island of the Dutch Frisian Islands (Dutch: Waddeneilanden). Only about 650 souls inhabited the elongated sandy stretch of land and most of them earned their living from fishing and occasionally they plundered wrecked ships...

Locations of the isle of Vlieland (upper arrow) and Amsterdam (lower arrow)

It needs no explanation that most of the Dutch were unaware of the nature of the island, since back in the 1870s tourism wasn't as thriving as in 2018. Nowadays a large ferry shuttles between the island and Harlingen in Frisia which brings thousands of tourists to Vlieland every summer. The island's actual population though remains still quite small: about 1.100 people. The island today belongs to the province of Frisia, although the dialect and more cultural aspects share more resemblances with Texel and North-Holland.

The isle of Vlieland with its sole village Oost-Vlieland on the southeastern side.

Postal pieces travelling to and from the island went by ship via the neighbouring island of Texel to Den Helder in North-Holland. Our piece travelled this route too.

Postmarks

The "Vlieland" town name marker (see below) was placed in blue ink on the cover before reaching the first proper (main) post office in Den Helder. Only main post offices were allowed to cancel the stamp when a postal item travelled beyond the border of a postal district (rayon). In 1871 this happened by the combination of a so-called "hour postmark with letter" (departure) postmark reading Den Helder 4A-8A and its corresponding numeral postmark 53 which was used for the actual cancellation of the stamp. 

Numeral Cancel of Den Helder '53' on a King William III 5c blue (1867-68): Scott 7/NVPH 7 

Den Helder's Hour Postmark with Letter reading "24 NOV 71 / 4A-8A" 'A' stands for the Dutch Avond (evening), so this interval means between 16:00-20:00. A bit inconvenient and therefore replaced by a more logical postmark from 1877 onwards.

Vlieland Town Name Marker in blue

Although both the Den Helder numeral as hour postmark are quite common to find (even on complete postal pieces), the Vlieland Name Marker is scarcer on piece. This is of course due to the relative isolation and the low population number of the island. There was no real need of an advanced and speedy postal service so Vlieland always remained a sub-post office.

Mysterious sender

How odd it is then that the cover above was addressed to French ambassador to the Netherlands (Le Consul Général) in Amsterdam? My first guess was that the cover carried a request made by an inhabitant of Vlieland because he/she wanted to settle in France. Odd indeed, but I couldn't think of anything else until I closely looked at the wax seal on the reverse.

Wax Seal of ?  

Initially I was inclined to see the ornament above the proper shield as the French Fleur-de-Lis. Now I am not so sure anymore, but this initial thought gave me the impetus to look beyond Vlieland's horizon for other reasons why this letter could have been posted. Could this cover has been sent by a French delegate or attaché for instance? An attaché reporting on French trade with Vlieland? Very unlikely, but I continued my search on the great online resource of Dutch newspapers delpher.nl and curbed my search results "Vlieland", "Frankrijk" and "1871" to the months of October, November and December. After 10 minutes or so the following entry caught my attention (Leeuwarder Courant, 05-12-1871):

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Public Sale

 Vlieland

On Monday the 11th of December 1871, half past ten in the morning Mr L. Zunderdorp will sell by court order of the right honourable Consul-General of France to the Netherlands and in presence of bailiff P. Hoedemaker on Vlieland 

The Body or Vessel  

of the French Brig Adèle, Capt. Frouillon, which headed for St. Malo (Frankrijk) from Sundsvall, but now lays wrecked on the northern shore of Vlieland, approximately a half hour walk from the village of Vlieland, as well as the rigging of the ship, consisting of: Anchors, Chains, Cables, Hawsers, Ropes, Ironwork, Blocks, Sails, Spars, Water casks etc. etc.

- Then a piece about the cargo of the ship: pine and fir wood sheets/plates -          

For more information you could apply in writing to the French Consulate near the Weteringbarrière, B B 153 in Amsterdam, as well to Mr L. Zunderdorp on Vlieland.

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So there we are! Our cover very likely contained a message about this stranded French vessel. I continued my research and soon afterwards I found two very short articles in which the shipwreck was being reported. The first is from the Algemeen Handelsblad of 19-11-1871:

  

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Shipping Reports

Amsterdam, 17 Nov. The French Brig Adèle, capt. Trouillon, headed for St. Malo from Sundsvall has run ashore on Vlieland last night according to a telegram from the island today. One man perished in the event ; the cargo is being salvaged.  

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The second article is from the Helderse en Nieuwedieper Courant of the same date:

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-- Last night the French brig Adèle, capt. Troullon, run ashore on Vlieland, carrying timber from Sundsvall to St. Malo. One of the rig men drowned, all others have been rescued.  

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Apparently this ship, Adèle, ran aground on the 17th or 18th of November: the two reports differ on the exact night. That makes 6-8 days for its captain (or a French attaché) to have sent our cover to Amsterdam. Bearing in mind that Vlieland certainly wasn't an easy place to reach in these days, I think it was the captain himself who sent the letter. Maybe he had already sent another one earlier on, or - because of the unknown territory he set foot on - he waited a few days in order to sort everything out before he updated the Consul on the dire situation. 

Alas, I haven't found any information on this particular ship and on its captain Trouillon. I will update this post whenever I have found some additional (and eagerly wished for!) details. Obviously no waste of money this cover!    

Reverse of the cover with wax seal, Amsterdam Arrival Postmark (12M-8M: between 12 p.m. and 8 a.m.) and Post Man Mark indicating this cover  has been delivered during his first round of the day (on the 25th of November).