the same procedure. After all the Detroit River traveling freighters with mail were served, the man in the rowboat went back to the Detroit port where he started from earlier in the day. This was a type of marine mail service to and from moving vessels of through traffic that did not stop at a Detroit port. The private enterprise started with 47,000 pieces of mail in its first year of operation. It ultimately led to Westcott's vessel becoming an official United States Postal Service-contracted mail-boat in 1948 as a privately owned floating post office, and by 1972 was accounting for more than 700,000 pieces of mail being handled per year. Wescott's service meant that ships did not have to stop and go ashore to collect their mail and could get it 'on the fly' while still moving midstream in the Detroit River. Wescott added a power boat in 1908 to meet these larger moving vessels – the SS J.W. Wescott No. 1. A second boat, the 45 foot (14 m) craft J. W. Westcott II, was introduced to the floating mail service in 1955. It was renewed on a United States Postal Service contract in 1974 and the work was done by non-postal employees of the Wescott Company around the clock seven days a week. It led to the only floating post office associated with a United States zip code designation – 48222, the Detroit River Post Office. By 1999 the J.W. Wescott II mailboat had expanded its service to delivering packages, newspapers, groceries, and supplies in addition to its million pieces of mail annually. The larger vessels and freighters traveling down the Detroit River do not stop in general, but are just through traffic to other destinations. Those that want to communicate with the Great Lake freighters send their mail in care of the ship's name at zip code 48222 and it is forwarded accordingly 'on the fly' by the Westcott Company while the mailboat and the main vessel are still moving. As of 2017, the company currently receives about a third of its income from the post office, and the remainder is split between other contracts and fares for passenger transport. The company's reserve craft is the Joseph J. Hogan. Personal life Westcott married in Detroit to Henrietta Eagles Crane of Newark, New Jersey, on December 29, 1878. They had four children: Mary, Henrietta, John Westcott II,