Card of the day for May 26, 2020

[Howard Weinert]

A postcard sent from Vladivostok by a sailor on the German frigate SMS Elisabeth to another on the SMS Moltke in Montevideo, Uruguay, then forwarded to Valparaiso and Valdivia, Chile. Postmarked in Vladivostok on 19 August 1882, in Nagasaki 20 days later, in Yokohama on 26 September, in San Francisco on 13 October, in Montevideo on 28 November, in Valparaiso on 7 and 13 January 1883, and in Valdivia on 19 January. Written on the front is "care of the German consulate" and "please forward this card." The message is datelined "Vladivostok, 12 August 1882 (old style), on board the SMS Elisabeth." It reads, "Dear Richard, Congratulations on your 22nd birthday. On 29 September I will empty a glass to your health. With greetings, your true friend Lentz." The Elisabeth was part of the German East Asia Squadron. As part of the First International Polar Year (1882-83), the German corvette Moltke transported a German scientific team from Montevideo to South Georgia, arriving on 20 August and leaving for Valparaiso on 3 September. The ship arrived in Valparaiso on 19 October. By the time this postcard reached Valparaiso, the Moltke had sailed to Valdivia, the port of entry for thousands of Germans who immigrated to Chile in the second half of the nineteenth century. The recipient, Karl August Richard Ismer, was born on 29 September 1860 and died in 1916.

Note that this card was postmarked on the same date as the card I posted on the forum yesterday.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Howard

on this one I take my hat off to you,  how do you work all that out.  I'm amazed but honored you share such with us.

If not the front page will be in the next journal.

Chris  Ed

[Ross Debenham]

thanks Howard, very interesting bit of postal history