"City of Rio de Janeiro" transpacific mail out of San Francisco - 1892

A rare piece of US Postal History from the trans-Pacific steamsip mail era in San Francisco, August 26, 1892.

The letter was carried across the Pacific Ocean on the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's SS City of Rio de Janeiro. This iron-hulled steamship regularly ran the lucrative mail and passenger route between San Francisco, Honolulu, Yokohama, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

The ship mentioned on the cover would later become infamous for one of the worst maritime disasters in West Coast history. On February 22, 1901, the City of Rio de Janeiro struck a reef in dense fog while entering the Golden Gate strait and sank in under 10 minutes, claiming 128 lives.

The correspondence highlights a business link between Cutting Packing Co. and Arnhold, Karberg & Co., who served as regional agents distributing American canned goods and vegetables across major Asian ports like Hong Kong and Shanghai.