Stampless: Havana To Bordeaux Via New York And Calais - 1855

I am pretty new to this area of collecting and hope someone here can either answer my questions or point me in worthwhile directions.

I attached images of a cover/letter that I got fairly recently but have not been able to completely understand (postally) and have several questions.

What I think I know is that this F/L (one piece of paper folded cleverly ) originated in Havana (Habana) with Cuesta & Co. They sent it to Gaden & Klipsch (wine merchants I believe) in Bordeaux on 8 Nov 1855. The two page business letter is presumably in Spanish but I can't make out much. It got to New York on 14 Nov, 6 days later via the San Granada (can't find much about this ship). It was forwarded in New York by another party (Prichard & Birch maybe) via the Baltic. This was a transatlantic steamer owned by the Collins line. It arrived in Calais 27 Nov, say 13 days. It appears to have gotten to Bordeaux same day 27 Nov. How is that possible? Also there is a postal mark on the back for 26 Nov but I cant figure out that one at all. I see two maybe three manuscript marks that probably represent the rates. One, 16 is clear and I think it means 16 decimes. The 2nd looks like 160 on the back and I cant figure that one out. The 3rd is also on the back and is not very legible, could be 50 or 60 or something entirely different. Also attached is an image of inside the cover but really part of the envelope that reads 1855 Habana 8 Nov Cuesta & Co and then what looks like two other dates but I cant figure out what those mean.

My main puzzlement is how this got to Prichard & Birch (sp) in New York to forward without having their name on the letter? Seems odd and maybe I am wrong but it looks like the forwarding hand is different than who wrote & addressed the letter. I assume that the forwarder put their name on in New York. Is this a wrong assumption?

I would appreciate any help anyone can provide interpreting this cover and any advise on where to look to figure it out myself.

Your letter was sent under cover to the forwarding agent. The sender probably had a week's worth of correspondence to various locations to send out on the next ship to New York. The sender would bundle all the letters and send them to the forwarding agent in New York. The forwarding agent would then determine the best routing for each letter based on upcoming ship departures from New York and put their name or handstamp on the letter. In some cases, forwarding agents would would send the letters to other forwarding agents. Double and triple forwarded letters are known, but are not common.

Well that probably explains why there is no obvious rate from Havana to New York. Thanks.

The arrival cancel bordeaux is not visible;to faint.The Cancel with Bordeaux is a TPO
type (Paris a Bordeaux).It was most likely put on a train in Paris on the 27th.