PICKFORD & BLACK’S Canada-West Indies Steamship Service

Robert Parsons
Released July 2026. Exhibit series # 126.
110 pages, 8.5" x 11", spiral.
Colour C$ 32.00 [ISBN 978-1-989280-57-7].

After joining BNAPS in December 1981, ships and shipping in eastern Canada became Bob Parsons's main collecting interest, beginning with transatlantic mails, then Clarke Steamships and Canada-West Indies Steamship services. His exhibit, Steamboat Mails in Eastern Canada, was awarded gold at CAPEX 1996 and at BNAPEX 1999 in Vernon, B.C.

Following a health issue in 2001, Bob’s interests took on a more international flavour, resulting in several award-winning exhibits. In 2022 he returned to Canadian postal history and within four short years researched and assembled an exhibit of Pickford & Black mailings between Canada and the West Indies, which is reproduced in this volume. Recently, Bob has begun collecting Newfoundland postal cards and stationery.

Samuel Cunard was already operating a Halifax-Bermuda service, when, in November 1850, he initiated a monthly steamship service between New York, Bermuda and St. Thomas, D.W.I., replacing the Royal Mail Steam Packet service which had been abandoned earlier that year. In 1854, Cunard consolidated the two services, eliminating New York as a port of call. In 1880, the southern terminus was changed to Jamaica. In 1886, the British government withdrew their subsidy and, as a consequence, Cunard abandoned the operation.

In 1888, Pickford & Black purchased Cunard's ships Alpha and Beta, and began its own monthly Halifax-Jamaica service. A Canadian government contract and subsidy was obtained in 1889 (the "B" service). Further negotiations resulted in P&B obtaining an additional contract for a Canada-West Indies service (the "C service), extending down to Demerara, British Guiana.