Another interesting postmark relic of the war in South Africa is one struck in red "RECOVERED FROM WRECK OF MEXICAN" a ship which was returning from South Africa with mails from the troops, and which foundered after collision with the ss. Winkfield. The bulk of the mail was recovered.
The Great War, 1914. The Army Postal Service with the British Expeditionary Force on the Continent in the present war is under the command of Colonel W. Price, C.M.G., who as Captain Price had the long experience of service with the Army Post Office in South Africa. It is scarcely necessary to say that the volume of correspondence now being dealt with by the service is unprecedented in the history of the British Army. In the early months of the war the outgoing mail to the Army Base Post Office in France averaged 12,000 parcels and 250,000 to 300,000 letters a day. It is impossible to give statistics of the number of branch offices of all grades established, but already there are many interesting postmarks originating with the British Army in France.
The various types of marks so far recorded are:—
Army Base Post Office (Fig. 33).
Advance Base Post Office (Fig. 34).
33 34
Army Post Offices with the Troops (Figs. 35-37).
