Civic body
Dover Packet Office
Also called the packet office · the office · Keeper's office · the Dover office · Packet Office
The office that keeps the packet calendar, entering sailings in advance and posting them, and handles the mails. Constituted after the Azure Banner war (4448) so that sailings could be known and convoyed; its Keeper is chosen jointly by the packet owners, not by the Crown or corporation.
The office, created after the Azure Banner, that keeps the packet calendar so that every sailing is entered in advance. It keeps the sailing book.
Named with it
- Harbourmaster Price Selwynn
- Clerk Anne Bredgar
- Harbourmaster Anne Tewkesbury
- Packet Clerk Susanna Guston
Ties
- filled by the owners of the Dover packet service
- party to the Packet Article with the Blanchefleur harbour syndicate
- carries sealed bags for the Crown, Admiralty and the Brethren
- works with the packet service and the packet owners
At the table
Holds the most complete record of movement in Britannia but will not search by name, refusing a great house (4589) and a Crown office (4604). Will say freely who was buried at sea from the port. About one withdrawal in nine carries no reason, and unentered sailings are recorded afterwards in a separate hand, a useful starting point for investigations. Carries public, commercial and warrant-sealed bags (mostly Crown, some Admiralty charts office, some from the Brethren). Keeps an unpublished list of refused passengers that includes four Near-Coast harbours. Made the Packet Article with the Blanchefleur syndics. Rewrote the calendar twice during the Black Wake. Its sailing book has never been compared with the coroner's book; tracing a disappearance means reading it twice.