A VERY FEW OF THE THOUSANDS OF

PAQUEBOT CANCELLATIONS OF THE WORLD




In the days before air travel became commonplace, people did much of their international travel by sea and, during a 5-6 day trip across the Atlantic, for instance, had ample time to write letters and postcards.
These letters would be handed over to the Ship Steward who would then turn them over to the postal authorities at the next Port of Call.

The use of an official mark to denote mail posted at sea was regulated by international agreements at various meetings of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). The first rules were drawn up at the 1891 meeting while the first mention of the word "Paquebot" came in the 1897 meeting. The clause, translated from the official French, reads:

"The Post Office which receives correspondence posted on board, provides same with its common datestamp, adding handwritten or by a stamp the word Paquebot."
("Paquebot" cancellations came into use in 1894, however.)

In 1924 a further UPU agreement stated that:
"Correspondence posted on the High Seas or between two ports of embarkation, and handed to officers of vessels carrying a mail,......., postage may be paid by means of postage stamps and according to the postage rates of the country under whose flag the vessel sails. But if the mailing on board occurs during the stay of the vessel at one of the two terminal ports of the voyage or at one of the ports of call, prepayment is valid only if effected by by means of postage stamps and according to the rates of the country in whose waters the vessel happens to be."


The Paquebot Era lasted from the final fraction of the 19th century through the first half of the twentieth (with time off for bad behaviour during the WWs) but subsequently, commercial use, what with the growing popularity of air-mail and air-travel, slowly declined. Modern Paquebot marks are almost all "philatelic" (like First Day Covers - a drug on the market if ever there were.)

Before airmail, several other sorts of letters, besides those sent by the ship's passengers, also received Paquebot marks:
  • Last-minute business and shipping agent letters in ports where the quay was very near the town.
  • Letters from isolated settlements visited only by occasional ships.
  • Letters from countries with very inefficient/corrupt postal systems(e.g. pre-WWI Ottoman Empire & Persia)
  • Letters from areas in revolutionary turmoil, trying to avoid local censorship or loss due to the unrest.

Paquebot marks came in a great variety of forms. The "Paquebot" handstamp could be boxed or unboxed. Most are identifiable, by letter design and dimensions, with a particular port, but occasionally one type used in several different ports. There were also single- and double-ring CDS-type cancellations as well as slogan-type paquebot cancels in duplex with CDS. At any given time, a port could have been using several different types of Paquebot marking.


OMNIBUS PAQUEBOT CANCELLATIONS
of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND
1910 1903Southampton
EDINBURGH - 1910 "Paquebot" Handstamp SOUTHAMPTON - 1903
"Ship Mail" CDS


1958Holyhead,Wales

1968Liverpool
HOLYHEAD - 1958
"Paquebot/Posted at Sea/Received"/ Single-ring CDS		 LIVERPOOL - 1968
"Paquebot"/ Double-ring CDS with 'Killer' Bars


1937Plymouth
PLYMOUTH - 1937
CDS + 'PAQUEBOT/POSTED AT SEA' Slogan
Click on any of the above images for more detailed information.



FROM GREAT BRITAIN TO THE FAR EAST


London and New Delhi were the two poles of the British Empire and safeguarding the route to India was a cardinal aim of British policy both in peace and war. Indeed, the British presence in many of its colonies along this route was dictated by this central need. When India became first a self-governing dominion in 1947 and then fully independent in 1948, it soon became apparent that these colonies had lost their raison d'etre and had become nothing more than a burden on the public purse that could no longer be afforded. They were forthwith given their independence and left to their own, frequently quite ugly, devices.

But, in the heyday of the 'Paquebot Era', the route from London through the Mediterranean and Red seas and across the Indian Ocean to Bombay was heavily travelled and the Paquebot Cancellations of popular stopping points along the way, such as Port Said and Aden, are quite common.

- - - GIBRALTAR AND MALTA - - -
GibHS

 GibCDS
"PAQUEBOT" HS 1895-1946

 "GIBRALTAR / PAQUEBOT" CDS 1910-66
MaltaCDS

 MaltaCDS
"PAQUEBOT / MALTA" CDS 1930-36

 "PAQUEBOT / MALTA" CDS 1937-87+


- - - PORT SAID, EGYPT; at the Northern end of the SUEZ CANAL- - -

PortSaidHS

 PortSaidCDS
"PAQUEBOT" HS 1905-19

 "PAQUEBOT / PORT-SAID" CDS 1912-80


- - - ADEN on the ARABIAN PENINSULAR at the Southern end of the RED SEA- - -

AdenHS
Aden "PAQUEBOT" HS 1894-1911



AdenCDS AdenCDS
"PAQUEBOT / ADEN" CDS 1908-33

 "PAQUEBOT / ADEN" CDS 1933-51


- - - BOMBAY, on the Eastern coast of INDIA - - -
BombayHS BombayHS
"PAQUEBOT" HS 1904-40

 "PAQUEBOT" HS 1899-1931
BombayCDS "BOMBAY FOREIGN / PAQUEBOT" CDS 1913-64





- - - SOME CANADIAN PAQUEBOTS - - -
Quebec
(Click on image for more information)		 Vancouver
QUEBEC: CDS & SLOGAN
"Paquebot/Posted/At Sea"
1926-56

 VANCOUVER: BOXED HS
"PAQUEBOT/POSTED/AT SEA"
1968-83
TroisRivieres TROIS RIVIERES: BOXED HS
"DEPOSE EN MER/MAILED
ON THE HIGH SEA" 1955-83




- - - SOME U.S. PAQUEBOT CANCELLATIONS - - -
CRISTOBAL in THE CANAL ZONE

Cristobal Cristobal
CDS "Cristobal/Paquebot & 'Killer' oval duplex 1930-55

 CDS "Cristobal/Paquebot & 'Killer' oval duplex 1958-78
Cristobal CDS "Cristobal/Canal Zone" & "Paquebot" Slogan duplex 1950-70


- - - - - - - - - - "PAQUEBOT" HANDSTAMPS - - - - - - - - - -

NOrleans NOrleans
- - - - - - New Orleans, Louisiana - - - - - -
1925-64, Mis-spelt "PAGUEBOT"


 1963-73
Miami Jacksonville,Fla
Miami, Fla., 1928-36

 Jacksonville, Fla., 1954-64
Fort Fort
- - - - - - Fort Lauderdale, Florida - - - - - -
1958-79

 1965-69
CorpusChristi,Tx Brownsville,Tx
Corpus Christi, Tex. 1955-64
Mis-spelt "PAQUEDOT"

 Brownsville, Tex. 1956-73
Houston,Tx Houston Tex. 1955-77


CDS and SLOGAN PAQUEBOT CANCELS from NEW YORK, NY.
NY NY
CDS "N.Y.P.O.HUD.TERM STN.A.
/PAQUEBOT 1908-15
The frameline had become damaged by 1911

 CDS "NEW YORK.N.Y./PAQUEBOT" 1927-41
NY CDS "NEW YORK.N.Y." & Slogan "PAQUEBOT" 1924-67


The information on these pages has come from:

  • "PAQUEBOT CANCELLATIONS OF THE WORLD (Second Edition)". Roger Hoskings, 1987
  • "OCEAN MAILS". Philip Cockrill, Sometime in the middle-to-late 1930's.




For comments, etc, email me NOW or later at:
rjbw@shaw.ca

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