WW1 post to a ship.

[katkin]

I've had a search, but not found this:
How did letters get to a ship?
I have a 1915 postcard from a sailor on SS Alnwick Castle sent to his mother.

He tells her to write to SS Alnwick Castle  c/o G.P.O.
See attachment.
The little arrow pointing down refers to his words "write soon to"

Thank you, Kath.

[Tony Walker]

H Kathryn

To simplify a fairly complex procedure, people writing to seamen on board HM ships addressed letters to the ship, c/o GPO, London.  Weekly I believe the Admiralty forwarded the whereabouts of ships and/or their squadrons to the Post Office, who then sorted and bagged the letters into the appropriate squadrons and sent them off.  Obviously the whereabouts of our ships would have been of great value to the Germans, so all this was done with great secrecy.

This system worked well for ships in home waters (Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, the various squadrons around the coast etc.), but for ships in distant waters these bags would be sent to an outward bound ship to either rendevous with the appropriate squadron, or pass the mails to the British Consul at, say, Montevideo awaiting for the squadron to call in.

I am sure more knowledgeable members will add significantly to this synopsis, but it's a start

Tony

[katkin]

Thank you, Tony.

The lad forgot to put London after G.P.O.

I hope his mother's letters got through.

Kath.

[Colin Tabeart]

I was confused! (Not unusual). The scan attached to the original query shows "HMS" not "SS", which is why C/O GPO London was used as return address. But Alnwick Castle was a merchant ship of the Castle Line, and was not taken up as an Armed merchant Cruiser, so why "HMS"? Duncan Haws, in one of his excellent monographs on merchant ship fleets say she was employed as a troopship, "arriving at Mudros 18 Mar 1915 with troops and mules, and employed as a troop transport to Gallipoli." Hence the "HMS". Transmission as per Tony's earlier post, though probably quite quick as there would have been dozens of ships bound for Mudros/Gallipoli at this time. Hope this helps, Colin

[katkin]

Thanks, Colin.
Yes, I would usually expect HMT - Hired Military Transport - to be used.

Perhaps this shows how a merchant seaman regarded the situation.

Kath.