Page 7 - Delcampe Collections classiques EN-008

Stamps

provided liner service to Brazil af-
ter a stop in Portugal (2). The use
of the “French route” justified the
20 centime stamp, which was the
rate for territorial mail that could
be sent by the crews of the fleet
stationed overseas.
Unfortunately, when it was taken
ashore in Dakar (3) on 5 February
and stamped in Saint Louis on
the 7th, the letter could not be
delivered to its recipient as the Le
Guichen aviso had made a brief
stopover in Senegal before conti-
nuing on its way. The address was
corrected: “sent to Montevideo”
and the decision was taken to
entrust the letter (and likely a few
others) to the first ship leaving for
South America to catch up with
Le Guichen. This was via the avi-
so Le Curieux, on a date we were
not able to identify... However, it
stopped over at Rio de Janeiro (4)
which was, perhaps, its planned
destination, before returning to
France, where it arrived on 30
June. On the back of the envelope
is the stamp of the Cherbourg of-
fice from 1 July 1867 and that of
the Cherbourg travelling post of-
fice in Paris. The address was cor-
rected one last time to “Division
navale de l’Océan Pacifique”. We
have not been able to determine
if the letter was returned to the
sender or if it departed on another
warship bound for Tahiti.

Delcampe Magazine 7