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The Royal Navy in Jamaica .
Before concluding discussion of the Navy's participation in World War II mention is
now made of Shipping Documents and Naval Control Officers . As convoy systems applied,
a firm sending goods abroad would not know the ships available or their dates of
departure . The firm had to contact the appropriate Naval Control Officer who would
inform the firm of a port where a ship was available , but not restricted information as
to the name of the ship, it' s date of sailing or the route to be followed .
The firm then delivered the goods to the designated port and would hand the Naval
Control Officer an unsealed envelope addressed to the consignee, with the firm' s
shipping documents and invoices etc. This officer would completed the letter by
naming the ship accepting the consignment and probably limited information as to the
as to the e xpected date of arrival .
The officer would also censor the letter and after being sealed it would have an
examination labe l affixed. In all probability the letter would travel on the same
ship as the goods; on arrival at t he port of destination the letter would be posted to
t he consignee informing the consignee the goods had arrived and the name of the ship .,
the shipping documents constituting a delivery note for the good .
Whilst the l etter was carried free on the ship, postage had to be paid as the port
of arrival for delivery to the consignee, hence the letter had to be prepaid by the
firm, in most cases with a stamp or stamps foreign to the port of destination . On most
cases the letter would be accepted by the Post Office as a paquebot item.
EKD : 4 March 1942
Below shows the reverse of a letter from Liverpool to Jamaica with the Liverpool
Naval Control Officer' s Examination label . The obverse is addressed to a firm in
Kingston and is franked by a United Kingdom 3d stamp, cancelled by Kingston paquebot
dater of the 4w March, 1942 . LKD :
Examined for
Flag Officer-in-Charge,
Liverpool.
B
ll934/5099 9/41 10.000(4) M&C<War) 724