A cover from a non-existent vessel?

[Nick Colley]

Chaps, attached are scans of an item apparently from the Greek naval vessel HHMS [i]Elli[/i]. The question I have is unrelated to postal history, only Greek naval history. You can see from the Alexandria b/s that it dates from August 1944. However, the first Greek ship named [i]Elli[/i] a light cruiser) was sunk by the Italian submarine [i]Delfino[/i] on 15th August 1940 (BEFORE the outbreak of hostilities between Greece and Italy) while she was anchored off the island of Tinos. The internet tells me the second ship named [i]Elli[/i] in the Greek navy was the Italian cruiser [i]Eugenio di Savoia[/i] which was given to Greece in 1947 by Italy as reparation. The conclusion is, of course, that there was no Greek naval vessel named [i]Elli[/i] between August 1940 and 1947. Except this cover strongly suggests otherwise.

The question, therefore, is: what vessel, or entity, carried the name HHMS [i]Elli[/i] between 1941 and 1947? Any ideas, folks?


Thanks
N

[Alexander Green]

I think this is HHMS Helle (alternate spelling of Elli), a Greek naval base in Egypt.  Situated somewhere on the Suez Canal perhaps?  There was unrest and a mutiny there in 1944.

[Nick Colley]

Excellent! Sounds good to me :-) Many thanks.

As an aside, it tickles me that the item is written in French, by a Greek, posted through a British army post office in Egypt, and addressed to the Ottoman (Turkish origin) bank. Five nations in one item, a year before the United Nations came into being.

Thanks again.

rgds
N