Chapter 9 No.9

No doubt there are many more postmarks with a naval interest, including those valued by collectors as indicating stamps on letters originating in the various naval stations abroad from 1858 to 1870, recognised by the following letters and numbers:-

A79 to A89. Pacific Naval Stations.

A90 to A99. Atlantic Naval Stations.

B03, B12, B56. African Naval Stations.

B53 (Mauritius), B62 and C79 (Hong Kong), B64 (Seychelles).

Also "B", "H", and the date stamp in the case of "Ascension".

In the present war the naval postmarks promise to be of exceptional interest. The postmarks for both Army and Navy give no clue to the locality in which the correspondence originates; this, of course, applies to mails coming from the field or area of operations; there is no occasion to disguise place of origin of letters going out to sailors or soldiers. Most of the naval marks at present in use bear no inscriptions of any kind, though there is a type inscribed Fleet Post Office (Fig. 48).