Singapore to Hong Kong
July 18, 1934
This paquebot letter went into the mail in Singapore.
The logo on the rear flap was, I believe, used by the P&O Lines
that sailed the route from Singapore to Hong Kong.
I note the attractive feminine handwriting on the cover.
I think this was a thank you note from someone who had just
visited E. C. Godwin, Esq., at the Royal Air Force Base in Kowloon.
The letter was written using ship's stationery during
the slow days steaming to Singapore.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
The cover was probably franked with a 1924 1½d red brown
King George V from Great Britain (SG 420).
The rules for paquebot postage permitted use of stamps from
the last port of call, the port where the mail was put into
the postal system, or the nation in which the ship was registered.
This appears to be the latter case.
The stamp was cancelled by a PAQUEBOT SINGAPORE CDS with black bars.
The first stop on its way was at 10:30 am in Hong Kong on July 25.
This stop was marked by a clear strike of the dated transit mark.
It was delivered later that day to Kowloon where a partial CDS was applied.
And it was appreciated enough that E. C. Godwin, Esq., opened it with care and saved it. . . . .