'Ship' Postcards

[wizard2250]

My pop was with the R Nfld R but sent these postcards home. Is there a naval significance or were these generic postcards supplied to anyone who wanted to send a note home? His service sheet shows that the only ships he was reported as being a passenger on were hospital ships. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

shawn

[ph0ebus]

Hi Shawn,

These style post cards are called Stevengraphs; you can see a whole lot of them (including your two cards) here:

http://stevengraphs.stores.yahoo.net/canpaclinrms16.html

As you can see from the site, there were many of these produced for a variety of ships and subjects. They are quite collectable and tend to be more costly than other postcards with the same subject matter. They have no Naval significance per se.

Is anything written on the backs of yours? If so, can you post it? The written content of a card may be more informative than the subject matter pictured on the front.

-Daniel

[sotonmate]

shawn

How do you think he arrived in Europe,if not on a commercial ship/liner ? It might well have been the MISSANABE ! To confirm that you could see what his unit War Dairy says carried them here.

Sotonmate

Edit:

Here a just found snippet from a soldier's memoirs of the time :

Oct 22 1915. 54th Kootenay Battalion sailed on board RMS MISSANABE for Devonport (Plymouth) UK. Arrived Nov 2. Train to Shorncliff in Kent.

[wizard2250]

Thanks for the replies. Daniel, I will post the 4 cards front and back side in the chit-chat section as I believe it is not a 'naval' post per se.

Sotonmate, I know he embarked on the SS Stephano for the UK but I was wondering could soldiers maybe have used these vessels as means of travel during furlough or were they specifically troop transports.

thanks again,

shawn

[per ardua per mare per terram]

The Royal Mail Ship Missanabie was owned by the Canadian Pacific Line. As a newly (1914) launched civillian ship she would have had the full range of tourist gimmics. The silk postcard are unlikely to have been run of the mill, the standard printed ones would be that.

[wizard2250]

Is anything written on the backs of yours? If so, can you post it? The written content of a card may be more informative than the subject matter pictured on the front.

-Daniel

As requested....the post

thanks for the link,

shawn

edit: sorry per ardua, thanks for the reply. Seems a bit classy for run-of-the-mill tourists!

[ph0ebus]

Hi Shawn,

First interesting thing: none were stamped or postmarked, so perhaps they were sent enclosed with a letter.

I will give another read after dinner and see what else jumps out.

-Daniel