The Blue Ensign used by mail packets from about 1833. The ensign is made of hand-sewn wool bunting. The hoist is linen with a sewn eyelet and the top and bottom. A painted badge depicting a postboy at full gallop, blowing his horn, is sewn in the fly. The postboy badge was allocated to the General Post Office in 1694. It was placed in a Red Ensign or flown by itself as a masthead flag until about 1833 when the Post Office Red Ensign was replaced by this blue version. This ensign went out of use after mail shipping contracts were allocated to new shipping companies and the original packet services went out of business. The most famous of these, based in Falmouth, closed in 1850.