An important category of maritime mail consists of letters and cards posted in ships' post offices at sea, and most of the great shipping companies of the world have used them at some time or another. Some of these operate within the boundaries of a country. Mail carried between Holyhead and Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) bore special postmarks inscribed H. & K. PACKET and many different types were employed, from the duplex types with the 186 numerals of Dublin to the handstamp inscribed DAY BOAT which was used when the Irish Free State came into being in 1922. Although mail was sorted on board the Irish steamers, there was no actual onboard postal facility, unlike the ships on the coastal service between Greenock and Ardrishaig. The Post Office installed floating post offices on board the steamers Iona and Columba in July 1879 as branches of Greenock head office and their duplex handstamps bore the 163 numerals of the latter office. Similar offices were later opened aboard the Grenadier and Chevalier and each used postmarks distinguished by the ships' names. The names were removed in 1914 for security reasons but the service itself ceased three years later.
In other parts of the world, floating post offices were operated by shipping companies aboard their liners. The German companies were particularly prolific, and the distinctive cancellations of such shipping lines as the Hamburg-Amerika line (HAPAG) and Norddeutscher-Lloyd are found on a great variety of covers from all over the world. The German maritime marks are easily recognisable by their inscription 'Deutsche Seepost', or a variant. More than 40 routes were denoted at one time or another by various maritime postmarks, ranging from the fairly common Deutsch Ost Afrika line to the scarce Australische Hauptlinie. Postmarks inscribed 'Polarfahrt' or Mittelmeerfahrt' indicate mail posted during special Polar or Mediterranean cruises. Other maritime postmarks which are sometimes encountered include the Dutch, distinguished by the initials KNSM (Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij, KPM (Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij) or, more rarely, KWIM (Koninklijke West-Indische Maildiens). Italian and Austrian services in the Mediterranean had postmarks inscribed in Italian 'piroscafi' (steamship) or 'motonave' (motor ship). Individual ships of the Lloyd-Austrian and Llyod-Triestino services had their own postmarks, often with tiny pictures of the ships in them. Between 1855 and the Second World War there was a cross Channel service whereby mail posted aboard ship could be placed in a movable steel box on the deck, emptied on arrival. Mail with British stamps would be cancelled at Le Havre or St Malo, while French mail was cancelled at Southampton or London, the postmarks bearing the letters MB (Movable Box) or BM (Boite Mobile).
А вообще самое лучшее, что я видел на данную тему это книга
Она правда вышла очень малым тиражом и была номерная .
У меня сейчас под рукой ее нет, но я ее читал, и там великолепно все расписано.
Попробуйте достать. А вот в последних михелевских колониальных книгах-каталогах выпуска 1985 и 2003 годов информации на данную тему практически нет.
Успехов :)
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Deutsche seepost
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