Great Britain Philatelic Society

Can anyone help with information concerning Victorian mail steamers that collected mail from the west coast of Africa. I have a cover from a navy ship of the West African Squadron that was picked up from Bonny River on November 3rd 1871, probably the MS Roquelle, and would like to confirm what mail steamer it was brought to the UK on and when/where it docked?

Not sure it really helps, but there is a picture of the Roquelle on p20 of Philip Beale's book on Sierra Leone.

your description is brief - no mention of stamps on the cover or lack of them.

I have a collection of Cameroon (Kamerun) material and have often noted German 'yacht' type stamps of the Kamerun being cancelled at Southampton - I followed this up at the time and found a lot of mail from west africa was carried by Geman mail boats which called at Southampton before returning to Germany.

This info might have no relavance but it is sworth bearing in mind that your search might be too narrow.

The cover has 6 x SG43 1d Reds with a manuscript annotation of Bonny River in one corner. I can post a picture if this helps with any answers.