Bermuda Collectors Society

Whoops! Someone made a blunder.

St Kitts Air Letter to England dated December 18, 1954 which was mistakingly sent to Bermuda as evidenced with a lovely red MISSENT TO BERMUDA hand stamp and a Hamilton December 20 back stamp.

I wonder if it ever made it to Mr H Cocker in Bolton? There’s no UK arrival mark so we may never know.

April 16, 1972 cover from the Bermuda NASA Space Station! The cover marks the occasion of the Apollo Flight AS 511, Apollo 16 and is signed by M Cowley for the Station Director.

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Cover bearing 2 1/2d Dock to Rockford Illinois. This standard letter rate but for an additional 1/2oz the rate increased by 1 1/2d which must have been the case here. The cover was charged 6c Postage Due on arrival being 1 1/2d extra postage + 1 1/2d penalty to equal 3d which converted to 6c. The cover bears the Bermuda T in a circle marking — indicating tax was to be collected by the recipient, as well as the USA instructional ‘Collect Postage 6c’, and the three 2c USA Postage Due Stamps showing the tax had been paid.

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The St David’s Post Office was very small and did not process much mail – covers with a St David’s postmark are thus sought after. In 1924, the date stamp was actually lost for a time resulting in the small amount of mail that was processed being cancelled in manuscript as shown on this cover dated September 15, 1924. Only one other cover is known and that has the same date. The date stamp must have been located shortly after as it is seen on other mail items known to exist before the Post Office closed in 1934.

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While covers are frequently seen censored by both the Axis and the Allies, it is less common to see a cover censored twice by the British. This On Active Service (OAS) cover was Censored and sent from Gibraltar on February 16, 1942 as evidenced by the Gibraltar PC66 tape at left from Censor 6750 (reverse) and the purple Gibraltar ‘Passed By Censor 3225’ handstamp. The cover then made its way by ship to Lisbon where it received a Lisbon February 21 backstamp. After Lisbon, the final stage of the journey was to Boston, USA, but not before it was intercepted one last time in Bermuda where it received the PC 90 tape at right with manuscript IC (indicating Bermuda), from Censor 6750. As is often the case, there are no USA receiving marks, however there is no reason to suggest that this cover was held in Bermuda and did not ultimately arrive in the USA.

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The outbreak of WWI was the first time the country had to implement Civil Censorship operation for communications — responsibility for which fell to the postal authorities. Censorship started on August 6, 1914 and this cover postmarked August 7 bears the CM11 Censor Mark of John Pierce Hand, as shown by the initials JPH in the boxed cachet. Hand was only in the position of Censor for a few weeks, resigning by the middle of September 1914 — perhaps he decided reading other people’s mail in great quantity was not for him!

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After the Boer War ended in 1902, most of the some 5000 all male POWs were sent home to South Africa. A small number opted to stay in Bermuda, while others went to New York. This photo is clearly of Reid St, Hamilton and was likely taken shortly after the end of the war.

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Cover dated January 23, 1957 from Venezuela to Hawaii. Rather than travelling West 9500km, the cover travelled North 3000km where it ended up in Bermuda and received a January 28 Hamilton backstam, and a 'MISSENT TO BERMUDA' cancel in red on the front. No further transit or receiving marks mean we may never know if it made it to the recipient; Mr Harold Lion the director of the Foster Park Botanical Garden.

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The Fort Victoria carried tourists between New York and Bermuda in the growing tourist trade from 1919. A key part of her success was the introduction of prohibition in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol in the USA; however once the ship was outside of territorial waters, it was free of this limitation and could open its bars for the sale of alcohol. Unfortunately, on December 18, 1929, the Fort Victoria sank in New York harbour after being rammed in dense fog by the Algonquin. Passengers and mail were salvaged with one of three types of adhesive label applied to all mail before it was forwarded to its destination. Because the harbour was blocked by the wreck, the Fort Victoria was blown up in October, 1930, using 25 tones of dynamite to eliminate her as navigation hazard and to once again clear the passage.

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A December, 1965 postcard from Bermuda to Ireland that got wet in transit resulting in the stamp(s) soaking off. The card had the British Mount Pleasant Inland Section (MPSI) ‘Damaged By Sea-Water’ cancel applied before it presumably was delivered to recipients Mr & Mrs H P Kennedy.

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Imperial Airways was formed in 1924 by combining a number of small airlines that had proliferated following WWI. On June 16, 1937 the long awaited — and well publicised — inaugural flight from Bermuda to New York took place on the British owned Imperial Airways RMA Cavalier flying boat, piloted by Captain William Neville-Cumming. The Cavalier continued transport on this route until January 21, 1939 when it was lost at sea while en route from New York to Bermuda. Three lives were lost but ten hours later, ten survivors were picked up by the tanker Esso Baytown.

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Somerset Draw Bridge – the smallest in the world.

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Terminal mail (into and out of Bermuda) was censored from the start of WWII with transit mail being handled by the Imperial Censorship comprising more than 1000 censors at its peak. This cover from Hamilton to USA is censored with a terminal Censor Mark type CM23 # 2 handstamp. These handstamps were numbered 1 though 50 with different numbers being assigned to different departments, post offices and censors during the war.

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Perot Post Office – from this house the first Bermuda Postage Stamp was issued in the year 1848 by William B. Perot, Postmaster of Hamilton.

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The censorship of mail and cable messages began on August 2, 1914. Virtually all mails whether local, inbound or outbound were examined. There were five handstamps in use over the period of censorship known as CM11, CM12, CM13, CM14 & CM15 with CM10 being a manuscript marking. This cover from the USA is dated August 1914 and is addressed to W R Winter, the head of WWI Censorship in Bermuda. It was censored with a CM11 Censor mark, with the censor John Pierce Hand’s initials ‘JPH’ in the stamp — not even the head of censorship was immune from having his mail examined.

Bermuda Flag with Bermuda’s national motto Quo Fata Ferunt – “Where the fates carry us”

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Cruise liner "The Queen Of Bermuda" owned by the Furness Line. She operated between New York and Bermuda before and after the second World War, with a round trip taking 6 days.

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All mail coming in and out of the Boer camps was subject to censorship in Bermuda. There were four different censor marks used and they are known as CM1, CM2, CM3 and CM4, with CM4a being a variety of CM4. Generally mail (postcards and covers) was cancelled with one of these markings either as arrived or left Bermuda. There are a small number of covers known with all Four Bermuda Boer Censor Markings – these covers are referred to as “Plastered Covers”. This 1901 example was sent to a Bermuda POW from Pretoria and bears a Pretoria censor mark in black along with all four Bermuda Boer Censor markings.

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The first transatlantic flight was attempted by Mrs Beryl Hart and Lt William S MacLaren on January 7, 1931. Their plane, the Tradewind, was to fly from New York to Paris via Bermuda and the Azores. The first leg to Bermuda was completed and after three days rest the flyers set of for the Azores and were never heard of again. Postcards and Covers are known from USA to Bermuda. Note the prophetic and possibly contemporary message on the reverse of the card – “first stage made - - - more difficult than expected----a series of unfortunate accidents----next jump our big test----the last stage Azores to Paris will be easy”.

An Airline service beginning June 16, 1937 between Bermuda and New York was operated by two airlines – Imperial Airways Ltd and Pan American World Airways. The Bermuda head tax charge at the time was 12/6, paid on this Imperial Airways ticket with a Bermuda King George V Keyplate stamp. The ticket is dated November 1937 and the stamp was withdrawn in January 1938.

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Between June 1901 and January 1902, just over 4600 Boer Prisoners of War were transported to Bermuda from South Africa, where they remained until the war ended in May 1902. In some cases, the POWs remained in Bermuda for many years after the end of the war. This postcard shows some of these Boer Prisoners arriving in Bermuda.

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On Christmas Day 1954, the BOAC Boeing Stratocruiser RMA Cathay crashed at Prestwick, UK with 28 fatalities. There were 8 survivors, 7 of whom were crew who were thrown clear of the wreckage when the aircraft broke up as well as 250 sacks of mail, most of which was salvaged in burnt or damaged condition.

Included in the mail were 40 packets of uncut diamonds valued at over £1 million. Although the diamonds were trodden into the ground by rescue workers, 90% of them were recovered by loading soil from around the crash site onto railway cars and shipping it to London where it was sorted.

The balance of mail was also returned to London where one of three different explanatory cachets were applied. Bermuda destination mail with each of these cachets is known with examples scarce.

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Bermuda Boer War CM3 for auction. Beautiful example!

Bermuda Islands BERMUDA: 1902 Immaculate envelope to a Boer POW "Mr J B Gothard, Darrell Island, Bermuda, West Indies, North America" posted from Durbanville, Cape ...