Mail Boat "St. Ola" coming alongside H.M.S. "Victorious."
(The "St. Ola" took the place of the "St. Ninian" during the last few months of the war, and mails were then distributed by H.M.S. "Victorious.")
For the first three months of the war all mails for the Fleet were landed and distributed at Scapa Pier. In November 1914, a Branch Post Office was opened on H.M.S. "Imperieuse," where the mails and newspapers were sorted and despatched to the Fleet. Some idea of the volume of business transacted to the date of the Armistice can be gathered from the following figures: 42 million letters and parcels sorted and despatched; 85 million letters and parcels delivered; value of postal stamps sold, £275.500.
Imperial War Museum.
Sorting Mails for the Fleet on H.M.S. "Imperieuse."