20 August 2014
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Rocket mail being sent to Wolf Rock Lighthouse, Cornwall
Stranded on a lighthouse nine miles off the coast of Cornwall, thanks to relentless storms, three lighthouse keepers were able to communicate with the outside world thanks to a unique form of mail delivery, as an item in the British Library Philatelic Collections reveals… ...
Stranded on a lighthouse nine miles off the coast of Cornwall, thanks to relentless storms, three lighthouse keepers were able to communicate with the outside world thanks to a unique form of mail delivery, as an item in the British Library Philatelic Collections reveals…
Stranded on the lighthouse amidst an onslaught of gales, three keepers at Wolf Rock were given the message: ‘with continual bad weather, you must tighten your belts’ in February 1948, as the sea was too rough for the men to be relieved of their duties.
The men were told to make their recently received fourteen-day seamen’s rations last three weeks, but a unique lifeline was devised which gave them some welcome respite in the form of a ‘rocket line’ tied between the boat and the lighthouse.
The rocket, containing two small canisters of meat and later a batch of letters, was fired from the boat up to the lighthouse; on the way back down the stranded trio added their own post, the first mail to be sent from the lighthouse for three months.
Read more about the unique rocket mail delivery in the October 2014 issue of Stamp & Coin Mart, available to buy as a print edition or as a digital edition, using the links below:
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Stranded on the lighthouse amidst an onslaught of gales, three keepers at Wolf Rock were given the message: ‘with continual bad weather, you must tighten your belts’ in February 1948, as the sea was too rough for the men to be relieved of their duties.
The men were told to make their recently received fourteen-day seamen’s rations last three weeks, but a unique lifeline was devised which gave them some welcome respite in the form of a ‘rocket line’ tied between the boat and the lighthouse.
The rocket, containing two small canisters of meat and later a batch of letters, was fired from the boat up to the lighthouse; on the way back down the stranded trio added their own post, the first mail to be sent from the lighthouse for three months.
Read more about the unique rocket mail delivery in the October 2014 issue of Stamp & Coin Mart, available to buy as a print edition or as a digital edition, using the links below:
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