The River Danube

from an article by A H Godden

A philatelic journey from the mouth of the River Danube to its source 2840 km (1,870 miles) away in the Black Forest formed the subject of a recent meeting in Manchester. At one time all the countries traversed (apart from Germany) had postal links with Austria either through shipping companies (the Austrian Lloyd or the Danube Steam Navigation Company - D.D.S.G.) or through Consular Offices. A brief survey of some of the material shown follows.

Postal Services.

In addition to services provided by the D.D.S.G., another shipping company, T.B. Morton & Co. of Constantinople, founded in 1855, once carried mail from that city to Rumania's Danube ports and the Black Sea. A service was provided from Constantinople via Burgas, Varna, and Constanza to Sulina, Tulcea, Galatz and Braila: see the accompanying maps, on which note that most towns have their 21st century names.

In 1869 the company began to issue crude handstamps on coloured paper, the colour indicating the mail's destination. For Galatz and Tulcea, magenta paper was used; blue-green for Braila. The ½ piastre was stamped in blue ink, the 1 piastre in red. There was a second issue in July 1869 incorporating the outline of a ship above the word FRANCO.

In the next two years, rectangular perforated lithographed stamps appeared in sheets of 50 with values of ½, 1 and 2 piastre for use on letter mail, bearing the initials D. & B.S.L.S. (Danube and Black Sea Line of Steamers) as well as a reference to T.B. Morton & Co.

For journals, a special stamp was issued in 1872, in sheets of 72, with a value of 10 paras (ie ¼ piastre: 40 paras = 1 piastre according to S.G.).

©Andy Taylor. Last updated 25 Oct 2000