This five-gallon steel mail pail represents a mail
transfer system used on the Detroit River.
Top-left: Steel mail pail. Courtesy of the Detroit Historical Museum Top-right:J.W.Westcott II mailboat. Courtesy of the Friends of the Mailboat Above: The Sylvania is greeted by the mailboat, JW Westcott II, for a mid-river mail transfer. Courtesy of the Detroit Historical Museum
“I’m Jim Burns the mailman, they drop down the pail,
I put in the mail, I’m Jim Burns the mailman.”
—Sung to the tune of Popeye the Sailor Man
by Jim Burns, Captain, JW Westcott II
Founded in 1874, by Captain J.W. Westcott, the J.W. Westcott Company began making mid-river mail transfers with a rowboat in 1895. Over time, the company used a series of boats to provide the Great Lake region with mail service. Today, the JW Westcott II carries on the legacy of mail by pail on the Detroit River, serving Great Lakes freighters with 6,000 transfers a year.
