Cover of the day

[Jim Etherington]

My cover of the day comes with a query. It was purchase many years ago as the result of a blue pencil number written on the reverse, 'U33007'.
Dated 16 June 1940, at which time the air mail service to France was suspended, the dealer suggested the sender had managed to have the letter taken from Cambellton on a US ship in the harbour which was subsequently intercepted by a British ship blockading the French/Spanish coast.
There are no other markings (e.g. 'Return to Sender' or DLO) on the reverse besides the 'U33007'.
Any ideas?

[Nick Colley]

Well, I can only speculate, Jim, so there are a lot of ifs in what comes next. The US was not a belligerent nation at the time, so: IF it was carried on a US vessel, and IF it was intercepted by any blockade we had put in place by the time the vessel reached the Eastern Atlantic, then IF her cargo was deemed NOT to be (in belligerent terms) contraband, then the vessel would presumably have been allowed to proceed. The letter would then have been treated in whatever way was normal in France at that time,presumably?

However, that does not account for your blue pencil number on the back. What makes you think it is contemporary? Is it a French-style 7?

Like I said, only speculation  :-\

chrs
N

[Jim Etherington]

Thanks for your comments Nick. No it is the English 7. No bar across it.