Today in Postal History

Tahiti to Pitcairn
November 29, 1952

This cover illustrates how mail gets about in the South Pacific.
Although Tahiti and Pitcairn are only 2187 km apart as the
crow flies, mail between the two has to go via New Zealand.
Assuming that the exchange port was probably Auckland,
the first leg from Papeete to Auckland is 4091 km.

Further, the transit must await the sailing schedule of the ships involved.
This voyage took over two months with arrival in Pitcairn on February 1, 1953.

The voyage to Pitcairn was 5355 km for a total of 9496 km!
The cover is franked with a 1948 6fr. steel blue depicting the island of Borabora.
The two mountain peaks in the view are Mt. Otemanu and
Mt. Pahia which are the remains of an eroded volcano.

The cover is cancelled by a repeater machine which has
a nice Visit Tahiti | Pearl of the Pacific advertising slogan.

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