Bacchus Marsh "15" travelling on ill-fated S.S. "Emeu", Victoria postal history 1857 cover marked "via Marseilles" (deleted for Southampton routing) with QV 6d orange tied "15" with red London Paid DE 7 57 on address panel (after 122 280days), reverse Bacchus Marsh and Melbourne JY 28 1857. Sent on the S.S. "Emeu" (under charter of the Australian Royal Mail Co.) which left Sydney on September 11 bound for Suez, but stranded on October 22nd in the Red Sea, on the Guttal el Bunna, a coral reef 120 miles from Jeddah. She was refloated the following day and beached for repairs near Duber Dubb finally reaching Suez on the 3rd November, the mails however having been transferred to the P.&.O S.S. "Madras" which reached Suez on the 19th November (16 days after the "Emeu"!). Paid for delivery in Southampton the cover was sent from Alexandria on the P.&.O "Ripon" arriving December 7th. £280
FLYING BOAT CALPURNIA CRASH IN IRAQ, cover Muswell Hill to Invercargill, NEW ZEALAND postal history 1938 cover with several pages readable lengthy letter from Milly in Muswell Hill pmk'd 22 NOV 1938 to L.G. Crawford, Thomson & Beattie Ltd, Invercargill, New Zealand, stamp washed off with 2-line purple "RECEIVED IN DAMAGED CONDITION/EX FLYING BOAT CALPURNIA". £60