India 1930 27 Oct. Air Mail cover, Karachi-Jodhpur, signed by Mrs. Vic...

India Disaster Mail: ACCIDENT AT SEA MONGOLIA 23 6 17 oval on 1917 (May 30) cover from UK to Calcutta, recovered and delivered to Calcutta on Jul 4, with Bombay transit of Jul 1. Stamps washed off as is normal with ship wreck mails but offset of Edward 1d stamp on the back of the cover. The P & O. liner MONGOLIA, with passengers and the mails for India, China and Australia, as well as a full general cargo for Australia, struck a mine on June 23rd, 1917, 50 miles S. by W. of Bombay, and sank. Three passengers, three engineer officers and 14 native crew and three Europeans were killed by the explosion. The survivors were taken off without further loss, but it was not possible to get at the mails which went down with the vessel. The mine was laid by the German raider SMS Wolf. Provenance: Glenn Reed, Chairman, ISC