1849 entire sent from England via GENOA (KINGDOM OF SARDINIA) to vessel docked in the city’s port.

Lots to unpack in this one.

Sent from British firm Beecher, Draper and Devlin, to a Captain Stark on board the Barque, "Ocilla," in Genoa. It looks like they used another British company Grants, Balfour, & Co - big hitters in Sardinia - as forwarding agents.

The captain is being directed to sail Ocilla to Sicily to pick up a cargo from another British firm operating in Palermo, Gardner, Rose, & Company.

Grants, Balfour, and Gardner, Rose both had close connections to Baring Brothers bankers

Fascinating little snapshot of the mechanics of mercantile networks at the time.

As for captain Stark he was a New England Yankee by name of Henry Sanford Stark of MYSTIC Connecticut, a nautical town made most famous by the movies Mystic River and Mystic Pizza.

The Ocilla was generally to be found plying the Translatlantic trade routes over next few years. He did well and built himself a fine mansion in 1852. Didn’t get to enjoy it for too long as he died five years later aged 37.

Also an interesting sporting connection for cricket fans. Scottish merchant Charles Balfour had three sons all of whom played first class cricket and all turned out for the MCC. Archibald played in the first full capped Scottish international and also lined up along side WG Grace. Robert played for Cambridge. Meanwhile Edward played for an England representative XI and once took a tenfer for Oxford as a round arm slow bowler. Tragically his cricket career was nipped in the bud. His father brought him out to Genoa to work for the family business in 1856 when he was just 23. Within weeks he took ill and died, possibly the result of eating a mystic pizza.

Small scrap of paper, lots of hidden stories. The best kind of PH.