Indian Military Air Letter Form: Paquebot Cancel

 

Indian military air letter form used by a passenger on board P&O liner "Canton" on its way to London. Written on 31st May 1946 "in the Read Sea somewhere in line with Mecca".

It is the 55th Printing of Br. India 1944 Forces Air Letter Sheet
(Form No. I.A.F.F.‒1083) [Lee type IF sub-type 32/Lang ALS9 (ex-FL5)],
printed in 1946 by Shri Saraswati Press Limited, Kolkata.

The sender of this air letter form asked the addressee to "keep the letter for me as the stamps - British - will be posted abroad, i.e. from Suez which is the next port of call".

The "Canton" was supposed to reach Southampton on "Whit Sunday or Monday", i.e. 9th or 10 June 1946.

However, the air letter was cancelled London F.S. Paquebot (25 Jun 46). It should have received the Suez paquebot cancel when it really had entered the mailstream there.

It looks like the air letter did not leave the ship (or it did in a closed mailbag ) but was carried all the way to London where it finally was posted.

Franked at 1s, the air letter is overpaid by 6d.

Credits: Thank you, Joy Daschaudhuri, fort he excelent information on the type of the air letter form. 

UK Paquebot mail "Not in Air Mail"

 

UK Greiner/Greiner #12i with printed letterhead of Cunard Line, R.M.S. Caronia
 

• „Air Letter“ is 23 mm wide, 
• top  edge of right sealing flap is straight, 
• top dotted frame line on front panel not broken,
•  oval in indicium not broken and
• last address line is 55 mm wide.

Posted on board R.M.S. Caronia, and fed into the postal network at Callo, Peru, (transit cancel on reverse), the air letter was not carried by air to its destination, the US. It was received in New York by steamer, as is documented by the four-line handstamp „Not in Air  Mail / Received via Steamer / G.P.O. (Foreign Sec.) / New York 1, N. Y.“.
 

Unusual Paquebot Mail.

South Africa: UK Aerogramme Cut-Out on Aerogramme Form not Accepted as Paquebot Mail

Cut-out from a UK 6 d aerogramme used as franking on aerogramme form from South Africa to the UK. 

Written on board of the Dominion Monarch, which travelled the London to Wellington, NZ, route via Cape Town, South Africa. The aerogramme was fed into the postal network at Cape Town on 9 VII 54.

It was marked with a four-line bilingual handstamp „Insufficiently Prepaid for / Transmission by Air Mail“ and taxed 4 d.

According to the UPU rules, the aerogramme should have been accepted as Paquebot mail if

• the postage used was valid in the flag state of the ship the mail came from and
• the mail was transferred in a mail bag from the ship to the local postal authorities at first port calling at a country.

So either the cut-out was not regarded a valid franking, or the aerogramme form was not transferred to the postal authorities in a mail bag but, for instance, put into a letter box.

The surface letter rate to the UK was 2 d, so double deficiency (4 d) was postage due. No apparent postage due handling in country of destination.

Australia: Thursday Island Paquebot Cancel

Australia A-7 aerogramme posted at sea on S.S. Dandenong to Sheffield, UK. Fed into the postal network at Thursday Island on 7 NOV 1956, where the aerogramme also received a purple PAQUEBOT cancel.

Thursday Island is 39 kilometres north of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia in the Torres Strait.

Egypt: Paquebot

Aerogramme form, sent by a member of the crew of M/V Wonosari at Port Said, Egypt. Postate paid by Egypt meter mark. Port Said paquebot handstamp  (26. MA 65). Unusual combination of meter mark and paquebot handstamp.

Cook Islands: Aerogramme Form Posted at Sea

Aerogramme form posted at sea (S. S. Monterey) and fed into the postal network ar RAROTONGA (17 AU 63)

Argentina - Not Qualified for Paquebot

This aerogramme (Greiner #16) was sent from a passenger on board UK ship MV Highland Princess when "docked in Buenos Aires" in December 1956.

The aerogramme would have had qualified for paquebot, i.e. the UK aerogramme accepted by the Argentinean postal authorities, when posted on the high seas. All postal items that are handed in after the ship has stopped in a port must be franked with local stamps. This is why the aerogramme was franked with a 3 pesos stamp.


References
Greiner stands for Greiner/Greiner, Aerogramme von Europa, 3e, 1993

Australia
Paquebot at Auckland, New Zealand

This Australian aerogramme (Stein no. A-6) was posted in international waters on board R.M.S. Oronsay on its way from Sydney to Vancouver and fed into the postal network at Auckland, New Zealand (cds AUCKLAND PACKET BOAT, 4 JA54).

"1954   January 4   The Orient Line's new 28,000-ton luxury liner Oronsay berthed at Auckland at 7am today on her inaugural voyage reopening the Pacific service from Sydney to Vancouver and San Francisco.  The service was stopped when the 30 year old Aorangi went to the breakers' yard last year. " [THE NEW ZEALAND MARITIME RECORD]

According to the 1952 Universal Postal Convention, "In the absence of other arrangements between the Administrations concerned, the postage on correspondence posted on board ship on the high seas may be prepaid by means of the postage stamps and according to the tariff of the Country to which the ship belongs or by which it is maintained".


R.M.S. Oronsay was owned by the British Orient Line (Orient Steam Navigation Company), so British stamps and/or aerogramme forms should have been used when posting at the high seas. 

Although the sender was the renowned philatelist G.J. Hutson (author of "The Stamps of New South Wales"), the aerogramme with respect to its contents, a private message, is not ostensibly philatelic.


References
More about THE NEW ZEALAND MARITIME RECORD
Stein refers to Stein,The Aerogrammes of Australia and its Dependencies 1944-1980

United Kingdom
6d Aerogramme Posted at Sea

This aerogramme was written aboard S/S Southern Cross when "nearing Fiji". As she sailed under British flag, it was allowed to use British stamps and postal stationery for posting abord. When calling at the first port of a country, the postal items were transferred  to the local postal authorities and h/s "PAQUEBOT". The item above was fed into the postal network at Suva, Fiji (cds 8 Jan 66).

According to Wikipedia S/S Southern Cross sailed on the Great Britain to Australia route. Taking 76 days for one circumnavigation, she sailed from Southampton to Cape Town, from there to Australia and New Zealand, and then continuing eastwards across the Pacific to Europe via the Panama canal. Normally she made four such circumnavigations every year.