Seapost -> French Sea Posts and French Ligne Cancellations
French Sea Posts and French Ligne Cancellations
By Julian H Jones
French Sea Posts commenced in earnest in the 1860's with services to the Caribbean and Mexico operated by the Compagnie General Transatlantique (CGT) steamship line of Paris. Precursor services had operated from 1827 between Bordeaux and Mexico via the French Antilles. Naturally, these mail carrying ships were known in French as paquebots, long before the phrase entered the UPU lexicon. The maritime mail routes were designated as ligne (or 'lines' in English). Letters, posted on board these ships during the course of their voyage, were struck with distinctive octagonal cachets de ligne indicating the destination (outbound from France) or route within the network. The following are some early examples taken from the major reference work by Raymond Salles 1.
In 1865 there was a major reorganisation of routes giving rise to LIGNE A (line 'A') which operated between Colón (on the Caribbean coast of Panama) and St Nazaire (France) almost without interruption from August 1865 to November 1932. From 1933, the home port changed to Havre giving rise to LIGNE L from Havre to Colon, calling at Plymouth (England) on the return route. LIGNE A alternated with LIGNE D which operated from Bordeaux to Colon via a different route through the Caribbean from 1875 to 1940, also calling at Plymouth. The other principle French mail route to the Caribbean was LIGNE B operating from St Nazaire to Vera Cruz between 1865 and 1886.
All these routes adopted, in the main, octagonal cachets de ligne similar to the following examples for lines A, B and L.
Cover with LIGNE D strikes of the BORDEAUX A COLON / L.D.No.3 cancellation dated 18th December 1931
Other 'branch' lines (lignes annexes) operated in conjunction with lines A, B, D and L to connect with outposts in the Caribbean and South America. These were designated as lines C, E, F, G and M, all with distinctive cachets de ligne. Refer to the Appendix for a list of the extensive French sea post office network.
The French also operated packet boats between the USA and France from 1847. These are listed in Hubbard and Winter 2 as well as Salles. The latter, however, also illustrates the cachets de ligne, including those of LIGNE H operating between Havre and New York from 1864 to 1880.
Ligne H mark on letter sent from France to Boston (via New York) in 1867. The mail was forwarded from New York to the
Boston office where exchange markings were applied when the bag was opened.
Ligne H mark on letter from New Orleans to Paris via New York 1869
Letter from France to New York carried on the steamer Lafayette in 1865.
The French CGT line service to the USA started in June 1864, and used 'name of ship' markings until February 1866.
From March 1866 to December 1872, the "Ligne H" markings were used.
Examples of covers between France the USA shown by kind permission of their owner.
From 1881 until 1908 there were no cachet de ligne in use on the Havre to New York route. In July 1908 the French postal authorities introduced the term Bureau Flottant (Sea post office) for operations on this route which continued to operate between New York and Havre (or New York and Bordeaux, war period 1915 to 1919) until 1939.
These cachets à date de ligne were used 1908-1916 and 1919-1939 and are typical of those employed on the Havre to New York route. The index letters A through F indicate the postal duty. Index F was introduced in 1923.
PPC of the French Line vessel S.S. LA TOURAINE with an octagonal cancel
NEW YORK A BORDEAUX / B dated 12th August 1917, during the war
period when Bordeaux was the eastern terminal port.
A joint Seapost operation with the USA was introduced on this route between 1912 and 1917. In the Havre to New York direction
the sea post was considered to be of French nationality. On return, New York to Havre (or Bordeaux), it was considered to be
American. Instead of New York - Havre postmarks, U.S FRENCH SEA P.O. marks were used with numbers 21 through 26 in the obliterating
oval. Salle's book lists correlations between the number and French Line ships which differ slightly from that in
Cockrill3.
[See also British Transatlantic Seaposts and USA Seaposts.]
PPC 'La Savoie' with sea postoffice mark U.S FRENCH SEA P.O. / 23 dated Feb 6th 1913 and French post mark CHELLES SEINE ET MARNE dated 7th February 1913.
This article discusses examples of French maritime mail in the North Atlantic. French packet boats also operated in the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic, even as far as Japan.
Envelope posted from the MV ATHOS II. It bears strikes of the LIGNE N octagonal cancellation KOBE A MARSEILLE / No.4 dated 14th February 1939.
It also has a small two line cancel KOBE A MARSEILLE which is believed to be quite rare.
From BRAZIL: a fine printed card from Brazil with strikes of double round circular TPO mark "RIO-CLARO/ 7 OUT 1902 /(AMBe.S.PAULO)" and TPO double round circular "TREM - AMBULANTE / 7 OUT/ 3a.T" mark together with an octagonal cancel "BUENOS AYRES A BORDEAUX 2o / 8 OCT 02 / L.K.No.2" indicating that it was sorted on board the French Seapost Line K on its way to Germany. The French sea post office 'Ligne K' operated between Buenos Ayres and Bordeaux. This cover was a lot in our Autumn 2009 auction.
The article depends heavily on Raymond Salles' book which the author wishes to acknowledge. We would welcome further examples of French Seapost covers to illustrate the earlier periods discussed, especially of lines A and B.
Bibliography:
1. La Poste Maritime Française Historique et Catalogue, Tome IV, Les Paquebots De L'Atlantique Nord, Edited by Raymond Salles of L'Académie de Philatélie.
Published in the early 1960's by the author and available to members from the TPO & Seapost Society library
and also from that of the Royal Philatelic Society, London.
This excellent work not only illustrates the whole range of postmarks employed by the French postal authorities on their sea post offices,
but also lists the main sailing schedules right up to 1939 - a particular bonus for the philatelic student of the North Atlantic.
The list of titles of the Salles volumes follows:
- Volume 1 Les Entrees Maritime et les Bateaux a Vapeur Salles 1961
- Volume 2 Les Paquebots de la Mediterranee, 1837-1939 Salles 1962
- Volume 3 Les Paquebots de l'Atlantique Sud Salles 1964
- Volume 4 Les Paquebots de l'Atlantique Nord Salles 1965
- Volume 5 Les Paquebots de l'extreme-Orient Salles 1966
- Volume 6 Les Paquebots l'Ocean Indien Salles 1968
- Volume 7 Index Alphabetique Salles 1970
- Volume 8 Les Marques d'Exchange Salles 1971
- Volume 9 Les Agencies Postales Consulaires Salles 1992
2. North Atlantic Mail sailings, 1840-75, Walter Hubbard and Richard Winter,
US Philatelic Classics Society, Inc., 1988.
3. United States Sea Post Cancellations Part 1, Transatlantic Routes, Edited by Philip Cockrill, Cockrill Series Booklet No 54,
Published by the author, and also available from this Society's library.
4. French CGT Packets between Le Havre and New York, Part 1: June 1864 through December 1869, S Walske, USPC Chronicle 246, 2015, pp 174-193
French CGT Packets between Le Havre and New York, Part 2: January 1870 through December 1872, S Walske, USPC Chronicle 247, 2015, pp 270-283
Philatelic References:
The 1857 Postal Treaty Between U.S. and France Carried by the French Line by Richard Frajola, USA
See Marcophilie Le Havre which illustrates marks associated with this famous French port.
Appendix
THE HANDSTAMPS OF THE FRENCH "LIGNE" SEAPOSTS
Article published in TPO Journal No. 17, [1963].
From "Les Paquebots Français et leurs cachets" by Bourselet, Maréchal, François and Gilbert, our Dutch member J.P. Visser sends us the list which follows:
| Line | Route | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Ligne A. | Saint-Nazaire à Colon (Aspinwall) | 1866- |
| Ligne B. | Saint-Nazaire à Veracruz | 1866- |
| Ligne C. | Forte de France à Cayenne | 1866- * |
| Ligne D. | St.Thomas à Jamaica | 1866-1868 |
| St.Thomas à Colon (Aspinwall) | 1868-1875 | |
| Le Havre / Bordeaux à Colon | 1875- | |
| Ligne E. | Forte de France à St.Thomas | 1866-1878 |
| Forte de France à Santiago (Cuba) | 1886-1888 | |
| Forte de France à Haïti | 1888- | |
| Ligne F. | Vera Cruz à Matamoros | 1866-1868 |
| Panama à Valparaiso | 1872-1877 | |
| St.Thomas à Jamaica | 1878-1886 | |
| Le Havre à Haïti | 1886- | |
| Ligne G. | Forte de France à Pointe-à-Pitre | 1866-1875 |
| Ligne H. | Le Havre à NewYork | 1866- * |
| Bordeaux à NewYork (only) | 1915-1919 | |
| Ligne J. | Bordeaux à Buenos Ayres | 1869-1872 |
| Bordeaux à Rio de Janeiro | 1866-1869 | |
| Bordeaux à Buenos Ayres 1o | 1872- | |
| Ligne K. | Rio de Janeiro à Buenos Ayres | 1866-1869 |
| Bordeaux à Buenos Ayres 2o | 1872- | |
| Ligne L. | Forte de France à Porto-Cabello | 1866-1869 |
| Forte de France à Curaçao | 1869-1889 | |
| Dunkerque (Bordeaux) à Loango | 1889-1908 | |
| Le Havre (Bordeaux) à Matadi | 1908- | |
| Ligne M. | Havana à Nouvelle Orléans | 1866-1869 |
| Marseille à ? (in the Far East) | 1869-1870 | |
| Marseille à Cotonou | 1889-1891 | |
| Marseille à Loango | 1891- | |
| Ligne N. | Marseille-Alexandrie, Suez-Hongkong | 1868-69 |
| Marseille à Hongkong | 1869-1875 | |
| Marseille à Shanghai | 1875-1889 | |
| Marseille à Yokohama | 1889-1933 | |
| Marseille à Kobe | 1933- * | |
| Ligne O. | Pointe de Galles à Calcutta | 1868-1882 |
| Colombo à Calcutta | 1882- | |
| Ligne P. | Singapore à Batavia | 1868-1890 |
| Singapore à Semarang | 1890- | |
| Ligne Q. | Aden à Bombay (no postmarks known) | 1888- |
| Ligne R. | Saigon, Hongkong à Shanghai | 1868 |
| Hongkong à Shanghai | 1868-1875 | |
| Ligne S. | Shanghai à Yokohama | 1868-1889 |
| Ligne T. | Suez à La Réunion (or Mauritius) | 1868-1882 |
| Marseille à Nouméa via Australia | 1882- | |
| Ligne U. | Marseille à Constantinople | 1866-1875 |
| Marseille à Odessa | 1875-1876 | |
| Marseille à Constantinople | 1876-1888 | |
| Mauritius à Mahe | 1888-1895 | |
| Marseille à La Réunion (-Mauritius 1o) | 1895- * | |
| Ligne V. | Marseille à Alexandrie | 1866-1888 |
| Marseille à La Réunion (-Mauritius) | 1888- * | |
| Ligne W. | Marseille à Messina | 1865-1867 |
| Marseille à Naples | 1867-1868 | |
| Marseille à Civitavecchia | 1868-1870 | |
| Ligne X. | Marseille à Alexandrie (via Smyrne) | 1866-1870 |
| Ligne Y. | Constantinople à Smyrne (no postmarks known) | 1866-1876 |
| Ligne Z. | Constantinople à Salonique | 1866-1876 |
| Ligne AB. | Constantinople à Trébizonde | 1866-1876 |
| Ligne AC. | Constantinople à Ibraila | 1866-1876 |
| *These probably worked until World War II (1939) |
It should be noted that there are some minor date differences between this source and those in the referenced book by Raymond Salles. However, the table provides a guide to the extent of the French sea post operations.
