Cover of the Day 11 May 2020 - HMS Cornwallis Atlantic Fleet

[Peter Harvey]

Here is my 'card' of the day, to Doncaster with Gibraltar Halfpenny cancelled 26 FE 07 and addressed top left from HMS Cornwallis Atlantic Fleet, Gibraltar. The postcard rate was 1d, so 'T' taxed in Gibraltar and with the British 1d I.S.F. cachet. After commissioning in 1904, Cornwallis was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until 1905, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. She stayed there for two years before being moved to the Atlantic Fleet, where she remained until 1909, at which point she returned to the Mediterranean Fleet. The message states ' we are at Gibraltar, now and are in the Atlantic Fleet'.

These early Royal navy cards are always of interest to me.