Sarawak ship letters and a couple of TPOs

Ship letters or the more accurate term is consignee's letters were carried on ships mainly of the Sarawak Steamship company plying the route to Singapore. The following quote from the Sarawak handbook by Forrrester-Wood would explain the process involved:
"any person shipping goods can hand to the master of the ship documents concerning his consignment. Nothing may be enclosed in the cover other than invoices, bills of lading or similar papers".
Strictly speaking, these covers should be clearly endorsed 'Consignee's letter', but this rule does not seem to be observed.

The M V Giang Lee was one of three ships operated by the operated by the Heap Eng Mo Steamship Co. This was a company based in Singapore. The Giang Lee was built in Hong Kong in 1958 and was 576 feet long makes regular runs between Kuching, Sarikei, Binatang, Sibu and Singapore. The vessel carries general cargo and timber and was registered in Singapore.

The S S Darvel was built on the east coast of Scotland by the Caledon Ship Building Co. at Dundee in 1924, designed specifically for the Singapore-Sarawak-North Borneo/Sabah service. This Straits Steamship Company vessel operated a twice weekly service.
On 11th February 1929 the ship ran aground on a sandbank at Sandakan. As this occurred on a very high tide it was not until two months later when it could be re-floated. The weekly service was maintained throughout the 1930s until the WWII. It served with distinction as a troop and supply ship and almost got sunk. After the war it resumed its previous role. It was the first coastal ship to be operated by a merchant company in Borneo after the withdrawal of the Australian forces. The ship mark was mainly used in the 1950s. It was eventually scrapped in 1960.

The S S Belaga was one of the ships of the Sarawak Steampship Company. It was originally named the S S Empire Palace until 1949 and was built in 1945  by William Hamilton of Port Glasgow. The ship was used on the Rejang river until 1958 when she was sold on to other operators. She was finally scrapped in 1971. There are two known cancellations for S S Belaga but only the ones used in the few years postwar were not philatelic. 

The M V Bruas was another vessel of the Sarawak Steamship Company. It was serving the route between Sibu and Singapore. However, there is evidence that the above cover and ones similar to it bearing the same 1952 8c stamp were purely philatelic and had never fulfilled a postal purpose. 

There were a series of TPOs in Sarawak in the 1960s to 70s from 1 to 18. TPO1 connects Kuching with some out lying areas 30 miles to the south west.

TPO2 was known to serve Simunjan in the 1960s. 15c was probably the rate for local letters. There is and was no public railway system in Sarawak. The travelling post offices made use of vans or more likely, 4 wheel drive vehicles which were more suitable to the terrain.
This should be the last of the transport related material from Sarawak that I can show for the time being. Next week, we shall look at some stuff on the same theme from Brunei.

Various Sarawak paquebot cancellations

The majority of the paquebot markings were not of the cds type. Kuching has the most varieties being the capital. Mail on maritime vessels from out stations would be cancelled at Kuching on arrival before being delivered locally or sent overseas. Of course, there was mail going the other way in smaller volumes and one could postulate that the majority did not survive the rigors of the climate as compared to overseas mail to temperate countries where they were also more likely to be collected. One of the things that we should be grateful to Britain is the condition of the commonwealth stamps which were there for "safe keeping".

It is difficult to be sure but I think this is a Sibuti SL2 with a small premium of x 3 rather than a Sibu SL3 due to the slight slant in the vertical stroke of the "T". It should be uncommon as Sibuti has a background rating of 250 in Proud's book.

 I think this is the Kuching SL4 in faint blue ink and has a premium of x 10.

Update 10 May 2014

This is Kuching SL3 with a date around 1924.

The SL11 of Kuching has a "double fish tail" at each end  of the box which is usually not seen. It is shown quite well here on the left in contrast to the illustration in Proud's book.

Update 10 May 2014

This is another SL11 but this time the ends are open.

This SL12 is one of two of the most uncommon of the Kuching paquebot cancellation with a value of x 60. It was in use between August 1953 and September 1955. Note the two lines are not exactly parallel or straight.

I have not tried to identify this one due to the faint cancellation. However, the stamp has a good background story. There was understandable controversy in depicting a native girl in a state of semi undress. She was one of the daughters of the hereditary chief of the Dayaks in Sarawak and may still be alive.
It had been described as a "cadet" stamp in which it was hoped that it would entice young British recruits to seek work in Sarawak in those days!

This is the other uncommon Kuching paquebot SL10 with a premium value of x 60. It was used between 1947 and 1948.

This is the Kuching SL11 with the "double fish tail " on the other side of the box bearing in mind the cancellation is inverted on the cover.

Update 04 May 2014

Just got this one recently and was surprised that it matches Brunei SL5 with letters in seriff rather than any of the Sarawak paquebot markings of the time. This means that it was posted on the boat going to Brunei.