Delivery Problems

Have you ever had delivery problems? Has an important package gone missing? It happens all too often, and it certainly isn't anything new. Case in point. While doing some research on the management of the cod fishery in Cape Breton in the late nineteenth century, I came across this.

On May 25, 1891, Philip Le Montais, principal agent for Charles Robin and Company, in Eastern Harbour (Cheticamp), Nova Scotia, wrote to Mr. McLeod at Mulgrave:

Dear Sir, 

Please let us know at your earliest convenience who gave you instructions to forward our goods (5 large boxes) to Port Hood. Captain McKinnon reported to us that you told him the boxes had been forwarded to Arichat when on the contrary they had been sent to Port Hood. As two of our craft had called at your station for them, you will please understand that we have been sadly disappointed in not getting these goods and a serious loss. They are still in Port Hood and I wonder are they going to remain there? We beg to call your attention to it at once and let us know if you will pay the charges, as we don't intend paying them beyond your station. In future please keep our goods in a safe place at your station, until you hear from us or are called for. 

How long had they been waiting for these boxes? Did they ever get them? I haven't been able to locate any documents that would shed further light on the matter, but more than a century later I feel their pain.