RMS trentTrent, 1841-1865
The RMS trentTrent was part of the first Royal Mail fleet, and was launched on October 2, 1841; it weighed 1856 tons.1
It was hardly an effecient craft: it was once reported to have made only 119 miles on 33 tons of coal in one day.2
The trentTrent was involved in the “trentTrent Affair”, which began on November 8, 1861, when the USS san_jacintoSan Jacinto removed two Confederate agents from the trentTrent on the open sea, a day’s sail from Havana, Cuba.3
Douglas mentions the dramatic incident in this confidential letter. He writes that the trentTrent was boarded some time last month, on the high seas by an armed party detached from the United States Corvette san_jacintoJacinto under the Command of Commodore Wilkes. Douglas recognizes the political gravity of the boarding, and warns that complications may grow out of so rash and insolent an act, Endangering our friendly relations with the United States, who were roughly seven months into their Civil War.
  • 1. T. A. Bushell, Royal Mail, 1839-1939 (London: Trade and Travel Publications Ltd., 1939), 253.
  • 2. Howard Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1964), 228.
  • 3. Ibid., 228-30.
Mentions of this vessel in the documents
The Colonial Despatches Team. RMS Trent, 1841-1865. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/trent.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)