The most perilous mail route in Europe

Mail from Stockholm to mainland Finland was carried by selected peasant farmers through the Åland Islands. Part of the journey was made by land, part by boat, and the service initially ran once a week. Six men worked as a team, and it was their duty to keep the boats in good condition and to acquire sails and oars. Valuable items were transported in barrels.

It was difficult to run the service when the weather conditions were poor. There were numerous accidents. In the winter of 1710–1711, for example, seventeen men from Eckerö perished.

Peasant farmers delivered mail

Peasant farmers who were selected to deliver mail took an oath by which they undertook to abide by the postal ordinance. They were released from the duty of offering accommodation, food and transport to travellers, and they were exempt from day labour and conscription.

They had to have two farmhands who took care of the actual deliveries between the post offices. The mail was sometimes also delivered by a farmer’s sons or – on pain of punishment – by the farmer himself if no one else was available.

Shortcuts

Peasant farmers had to use shortcuts instead of the winding roads when they delivered letters. They were also responsible for maintaining roads to keep the mail running smoothly. This meant keeping shortcuts in good condition, building corduroy bridges across swamps, placing logs across rivers and ladders over fences.

The post horn announced the arrival of the mail

Postmen were equipped with a badge displaying the coat of arms, a post horn and a spear to protect them against robbers and predators. The Crown paid for the equipment bar the spear.

In practice, the Crown was unable to provide all peasant farmers with the equipment. It was said that those working in the province of Viipuri in the 1680s and 1690s did not have a coat of arms or a brass horn, but carried a horn made of birch bark instead and, consequently, they were not respected. They were sometimes bullied and ended up in fist fights.

Mail bags changed hands at post houses

Post houses were located along the mail route, 20–30 kilometres apart, though some were closer to each other. The mail bag was carried from one house to the next. Post houses were not actual post offices although letters could be posted there to be taken to a post office.

Post offices were only found in towns that were located along the mail route.

The kingdom was ruled with official letters

In the 17th century, few people could write, and even fewer could read. Most of the mail sent was correspondence between Crown officials. Official letters had to be sealed to make it more difficult to send private letters for free.

Mail bags were mainly filled with official letters, and very few people other than officials, priests and merchants wrote letters.

How much did it cost to send a letter?

The cost of postage was first confirmed at the same time as the mail route was opened on 6 September 1638. The fee covered the delivery of a letter, and it was determined by its weight and how far it was carried.

Official letters were delivered for free but private individuals, such as the gentry, also wrote letters to each other. The basic postage unit was a letter that weighed one lot (13.3 g), and the cheapest postage was two öre. The postage was paid by the recipient.

Letters were delivered in a hurry

Peasant farmers were obliged to deliver mail “as quickly as anyone with urgent matters to attend to would.” They had to walk at a brisk pace – about 10 kilometres in two hours – if they did not want to risk losing their job and spending eight days in prison on bread and water.

Depending on the distance and the weather conditions, the journey could take 6–15 hours, even longer in poor conditions. The slowest deliveries took place in February and late in the autumn, the fastest ones in summer.