in separate rooms from the Island Post Office. Private vessels known as packet boats were contracted to carry mail from Falmouth, Cornwall to Malta via Gibraltar. The first such journey was made by the vessel Cornwallis, which left Falmouth on 19 July 1806 and arrived in Malta on 20 August. The Packet Agent in Malta introduced its own handstamps on mail (reading Malta) in early 1807. The Falmouth–Gibraltar–Malta packet boat service was extended to Corfu in 1819, and further packet boat links were introduced to Messina in 1824 and Genoa in 1826. In the early 19th century, mail to destinations such as Sicily or Mahón, Menorca could also be sent via merchant or naval ships. Throughout the 19th century, mail was disinfected by slitting letters open and soaking them in vinegar or exposing them to fumes of a mixture of substances. By 1812, this was carried out at the Profumo Office of the Lazzaretto. During the plague epidemic of 1813, the local postal service continued to function and it was the only means of communication between people in areas where movement was restricted. Disinfected mail began to be marked with wax seals starting from around 1816, and later with handstamps from around 1837. Disinfection of mail on a large scale ceased in the 1880s, but it was carried out in rare cases until at least 1936. In 1842, the Packet Office moved to the Banca Giuratale, and in March 1849 the Island Post Office also moved to this building, which came to be known as the General Post Office. On 1 April 1849, a Postmaster became responsible for both offices, and their operations were combined although they officially remained separate until 1884. On 10 June 1853, an experimental free daily postal service for letters and newspapers was introduced between Valletta, the Three Cities, Gozo and some of the larger towns. Prepayment of postage became compulsory on 1 March 1858, shortly after British postage stamps had been introduced in Malta. In 1859, it was decided that a Malta postage stamp would be issued for local mail, and the Halfpenny Yellow was subsequently issued on 1 December 1860. At this point, daily delivery was introduced in Valletta, Floriana and Sliema, and letter boxes were introduced in Valletta. The new stamp was only valid locally, and mail addressed to foreign destinations continued to be franked with British stamps. The United Kingdom joined the