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Instructions for the Conduct of Sea Post-Offices
Instructions for the Conduct of Sea Post-Offices 1904
& List of Mails to be made up by the Sea Post Offices:
New York-Bremen and New York-Hamburg
By Julian H Jones
Instructions for the Conduct of Sea Post-Offices issued by the
US Division of Foreign Mails in 1904 at Washington, DC, appears to be an update of instructions first issued in 1893 to govern the
operation of the joint Germany-United States sea post offices on the voyages between
New York – Bremen and New York – Hamburg, and return.
The updates include the variations required for the Unites States sea post operation between New York and
Southampton/Plymouth.
The first 25 pages deal essentially with the welfare and personal conduct of the US personnel assigned to sea post office duties. Thereafter the pages become much more interesting to the postal historian. For this reason the Society has decided to make the document available for study as a download from its website. The handbook may be viewed two pages at a time; accordingly the 54 page document is shown as a 28 page PDF document. The document is an electronic scan of a photocopy of the original handbook and is well worth reading in total at least once, and then studying carefully from about page 23 onwards. The content is of interest to students of the German TPO system as well as students of Sea Post Office operation.
Handbook page 35 contains in sections 68 and 69 a little gem of information about making up the bags of mail for onward delivery. Bags are to be made up in accordance with ‘distribution schemes’.
There are no distribution schemes within the handbook and elsewhere it is clear that distribution schemes are available from the relevant post office authorities, or that the US has ensured that relevant exchange offices have schemes to suit the US when making up bags for the USA.
The List of Mails to be made up by the Sea Post Offices: New York-Bremen and New York-Hamburg
provides an example of the Distribution list to be used on eastbound voyages where a significant quantity of mail bags were
scheduled to be put off at Plymouth, England.
It is clear that the reason for the joint sea post service is to expedite mails from the USA to Germany by means of railway connections from Plymouth to London, then to the British ferry ports for Flushing (Vlissingen, Holland) and Ostend (Belgium).
The List sets out what bags are destined for which European cities by way of specific German TPOs and which mail bags to be unloaded at Plymouth, Cherburg (France), Bremen and Hamburg together with details of the cities to be served by which TPO.
Both the 1904 Instructions and the List may be downloaded here.
Instructions for the sea post offices on board of the steamers plying between Bremen or Hamburg and New York
Dienstanweisung fur die Seeposten zwischen Bremen oder Hamburg und New York
Instructions for the sea post offices on board of the steamers plying between Bremen or Hamburg and New York
printed in German and English in Berlin in 1893 appears to be the original basis for the 1904 document to govern the
operation of the joint Germany-United States sea post offices on the voyages between
New York – Bremen and New York – Hamburg.
A similarly entitled document also exists that appears to be an update of the 1893 document. It is also dual language in a
similar format but with slightly different sections and some differences in content.
There is no date or place of printing visible on the updated document but may be as late as 1928.
Both copies were provided by member Rick Martin and appear to have at one time resided in the Railway Mail Service Library. Both booklets may be downloaded below.
Finally, thanks to Len Piszkiewicz, we can show a copy of the original 1890 Agreement between the USA and Germany which set up the joint US-German Sea Post Office service, here.
Download: Instructions for the Conduct of Sea Post-Offices 1904 & List of Mails to be made up by the Sea Post Offices
The booklet and the list are provided as a PDF documents which may be viewed online or downloaded for printing, reference and review. The booklet is from a scan of an original document.
Instructions for the Conduct of Sea Post-Offices 1904, download:
(16.2Mb - large file)
The list is from a scan of a photocopy of an original document. Its quality is not as good as we would like.
List of Mails to be made up by the Sea Post Offices: New York-Bremen and New York-Hamburg, download:
(0.4Mb)
To save the documents you are recommended to click on the download icon with your right mouse button and select the 'save link as / save target as' function to save the document directly to a folder on your computer hard drive.
Download: Dienstanweisung fur die Seeposten zwischen Bremen oder Hamburg und New York, Berlin 1893
The booklets, sized 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches, have been scanned to create PDF documents.
Instructions for Sea Post-Offices, Berlin 1893, dual language version, download:
(3.2Mb)
Service Instructions for Sea Post-Offices, dual language, updated version, download:
(2.9Mb)
Download: 1890 Agreement between USA and Germany
Arrangement establishing International Sea Post Offices, download:
(5.2Mb)
References:
The following will be found very useful:
Seaposts of the USA, by Roger Hosking, TPO & Seapost Society, 2008, ISBN No 978-0-9518726-6-6
United States Sea Post Cancellations Part I Transatlantic Routes, P Cockrill, Cockrill Series
Booklet No 54. ISBN No 947628 59 2
Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen 1857-1970 Volumes 1 and 2, Edwin Drechsel, 1994 & 1995,
ISBN 13 9781895590081 & 9781895590142.
Deutsche See- und Schiffspost 1886-1945 Vol. II and IV, by Friedrich Steinmeyer & Heinz Evers, 1999 & 2009
The Transatlantic Post Office, by Roger Hosking, Oxted, June 1979.
