Topsham post

To avoid being captured the fishermen went in to mailservice.
The waited for mail and small cargo in the port of Rotterdam or Topsham and advertised in the local newspaper .
The mail was important and should be intact on arrival.
Some letters are never delivered and are in the national archives in Kew.
Ship and crew with mail were regarded neutral and were not captured.
Jeroen Vlieland had a service Rotterdam -Topsham and advertised both in England and in Holland with his service.
It was not just mail as the name of the ship suggest often it was going to England in ballast and came back with wool to Rotterdam .

In England he adjusted his name in Jerome Vlieland 

Caledonian Mercury - Monday 08 February 1802

Thursday 7-1-1802 Morning Post.
The letters on ships were important and always saved.It was a way of gathering information
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In a Rotterdam newspaper in 1803 we find Jeroen Vlieland with his ship the Topsham Post sailing from Topsham to Rotterdam.

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In LLoyds we find him as well