FAQ: What Are Seaposts?

The Sea Post Office on the Oceanic. Travel Guide, 1910. GGA Image ID # 1ffb4c6de7

Ocean Post Offices were operated on all of the important transatlantic steamship lines. By the operation of the sea Post Office, the postal clerks sort the mail while the vessel is on her voyage and have it all ready for delivery by the time the port is reached, a saving of from twenty-four to forty-eight hours' work for the postal force at either end of the route.

On some steamship lines, the Post Office workers aboard were listed or included (as a separate line item) in their count of passengers aboard the ship. They were highly successful and generated revenues for the steamship lines and the Post Office.

For further information, view our page on The Sea Post Office.

Question submitted by: D. Morten, March 2008