This is a 1d overpaid ship loose letter to the UK (should be 2d, not 3d). The letter was carried by the Burns Philp steamer MAKAMBO, which arrived at Sydney on 24 August 1911. (unknown coll.)

Cover to New Zealand, the 10c stamp pay the letter rate and is canceled in Sydney Sydney wit a circular datestamp and the oval "LOOSE SHIP LETTER" struck in black. ("Aore" coll.)

Letter to England, the 2d stamp paying the correct letter rate. The stamp is cancelled in Sydney, backstamped in London FS 15 on 12 August 12 6am and Balham 12 August 12 9am. ("JGI" coll.)

Postcard to Australia, 1d rate, cancelled with Sydney cds. Additionally cancelled with straight line PAQUEBOT, recorded 1903 to 1913 and used much less than the "LOOSE SHIP LETTER" mark. ("Aore" coll.)

Letter to Sydney - possibly from an outerisland brought directly to Sydney and cancelled there. (Goron collection)

Correct 1d rate to Ireland - sorry, no lower part of image available. ("JGI" coll.)

Correct 1d rate cancelled on arrival at Sydney on 22 June 1914, supported by the oval NSW 'Loose Ship Letter' cachet which was in use then as Sydney paquebot marking. The letter was probably picked up from an island without postal facilities south of Vila by a boat southbound to Sydney, from where it was routed back to Vila. ("JGI" collection)

Correct 1d rate to England - redirected there. ("JGI" coll.)

Correct 10c rate to Ireland, the French stamp cancelled with SYDNEY -53- cds. ("JGI" collection)

Cover to New Zealand, the 10c stamp pay the letter rate and is canceled in Sydney Sydney wit a circular datestamp and the oval "LOOSE SHIP LETTER" struck in black. ("Aore" coll.)

Cover to Germany with three 1d on 2/- overprints cancelled Sydney 52 in 1920. I wonder if there was an additional stamp at top left. The pert cancel tells this but there is not enough space for a complete stamp of the same kind. And 3d was the correct rate to Germany. (seen on Ebay in 2007)

Cover to Fiji redirected to Canada backstamped Suva 18 October 1920. ("Aore" coll.)

40c payment for the 1 1/2 oz letter rate to the United States, with 10c "late fee" charged for loose ship mail. Probably uplifted from one of the southern islands, hence the Sydney "Numeral 30" cds and the Type 4 oval "Loose Ship Letter" frank. (Treadwell coll.)

Bisect 10c stamp cancelled Sydney - not very much official but accepted as it looks. PACIFICA arrived at Sydney on 25 June. (Klinger coll.)

Correct 20c rate to Canada, the French stamp cancelled with SYDNEY -52- cds. ("JGI" collection)

Letter to U.S.A., maybe overpaid 10c, postad on a boat on the way from Vila to Sydney. Cancelled on arrival with the SYDNEY 22 cds supplemented by the double oval "LOOSE SHIP LETTER" strike showing proper paquebot usage. ("JGI" coll.)

Cover to Australia with double letter rate, cancelled with Sydney cds. Oval "LOOSE SHIP LETTER" mark. ("Aore" coll.)

1924 Sydney cds as PAQUEBOT usage: correct rate cover to England (2d or 20c) using 1912 French language 10c definitive and 1d 1924 overprint on 1911 ½d English definitive. The cover was probably sent from an island south of Vila on the run from the New Hebrides to Sydney. It was usual for the Sydney P.O. to cancel the incoming ship letters with their normal canceller and not with a PAQUEBOT or LOOSE SHIP LETTER cancel. ("JGI" coll.)

Letterpiece with a French 10c pair and a British 2½d stamp tied with the #22 Sydney cancel. The oval "Loose Ship Letter" handstamp is applied too. (Klinger coll.)

Cover to England, 20c rate. Circular datestamp Sydney. Although received at Sydney uncancelled and loose from the bagged mail carried from Vila, the LOOSE SHIP LETTER mark was not always used. ("Aore" coll.)

Letter to England, possibly brought to Sydney by a ship from some outer island and entered the normal postal system in Sydney. According to information from Australia the slogan cancel "Address Mail to - P.O.BOX NO - It expedites delivery" was used in 1925 / 26 which is in accordance to the fragments of the year on this letter. (Klinger coll.) (Thanks to Ron in Croydon, Vic)

Cover to Boston USA. The British 2½d cancelled with Sydney 50 29SE26 in transit . ("SeSi" coll.)

1926 VILA registered cover with Sydney cds. This cover with full sets of both the 1925 British and French language difinitives was registered in Vila using cachet PCH type R5. However none of the stamps were cancelled in Port vila. This was rectified in Sydney when the SYDNEY -9- cds was applied. The cover also carries teh SYDNEY REGISTERED cds dated also 7OC26.The reverse of the envelope carries the 2½d, 5d, 6d 1/-, 2/-, 5/- English language stamps. ("SeSi" coll.)

Loose ship letter with five British 2d dual currency stamps (one damaged, one uncancelled). Looks like they just got a new ink pad in Sydney as this cancel is even worse than normal. I can't read the date. (Klinger coll.)

A total of 1s 50d on a letter to USA. The stamps are cancelled with the normal Sydney cancel together with a strike of the oval "Loose Ship Letter" SL18 of White (The Postal History of NSW). (Goron coll.)

Letter from an outer island and carried by the Messageries Maritimes steamer SS Lapérouse , with the correct rate 1 F 50 c for an ordinary letter up to 20g to USA.
Against all expectations the Sydney GPO registered the cover, fixing the registration R6 label SYDNEY B and tied the stamps by the cachet REGISTERED SYDNEY 23MR29.
So the letter was underpaid 1F 50c. (non colonial registration fee ). Backstamped SYDNEY 23MR29 , NEW YORK 5-1 1929 in transit and ELNORA MAY2 1929 in arrival. Uncommon postal history item ! ("SeSi" coll.)

British 1925 5d stamp on a letter to Kilmore, Victoria, Australia, cancelled in transit with a very clean Sydney "Numeral 22" cds. (Klinger coll.)

Correct 1/3d or 1F50c registered rate on cover to England unusually cancelled and registered in Sydney on 11 August 1930. On 9 August 1930 the Messageries Maritimes Steamer LAPEROUSE arrived in Sydney. As this was a Saturday the cover was processed on Monday 11 August. Cancelled on arrival Birmingham Registered 13SP30 (34 days). A.E. Witherick maybe was a stamp dealer and in 1896 (No. 1-6 at least, maybe more) editor of "Witherick's Stamp Collecting Circular". ("JGI" coll.)

11 August 1930

Letter with the 1925 Defs.1F French and 5d British cancelled with the Sydney Number 30 postmark -2DE31. Sender was Rev. Maurice Frater, a J.G.Paton Mission Fund Reverend in Paama from 1900 until 1939, a tiny island between Epi and Ambrym.
He was one of the major helpers in rescuing the ni-Vanuatu during the great volcano eruption on Ambrym in 1913. (Klinger coll.)      Charts thanks to Encarta 99.

2 December 1931

Rev. Frater might have sent his Christmas Greetings with this cargo. Here is another letter from him with the same date, the British 2d and the French 1F and 30c stamps are cancelled with the same Sydney cancel (in the same angle) as on the cover above. They could have been one on the other - here they are together again. (Treadwell coll.)

Mixed franking 50c on a letter to Scotland cancelled SYDNEY -30- on 30 DE 31. ("JGI" coll.)

Cover to Sydney, the French 50c stamp is cancelled with the Sydney loose ship canceller. (Goron coll.)

Letter to Australia, the stamp is cancelled with PCH type 10A. Backstamped Nouméa 3 Oct 32. (Klinger coll.)

Cover front of a letter to Sydney with 1920 1d on 1/- and 1d on 5/- and 1924 1d on ½d. Cancelled with a Sydney Paquebot cancel. ("RMD" coll.)

Cover to Granville N.S.W. Australia, the French 50c stamp cancelled with Sydney slogan "Airmail saves time" but there was no formal Air service Sydney - New Hebrides until 1947. ("JGI" coll.)

Loose ship letter Sydney with KPM's "S.S. VAN REES" ship cachet.
This ship provided the regular line service of the Dutch KPM between Saigon, Java and Sydney until it was sunk by Japanese submarine I.56 on 9 February 1942. The ship was built in Rotterdam in 1913/14.
Every two months the boat touched the New Hebrides on the way to Sydney via Batavia and Papua New Guinea. The oval cachet is the earlier type without "N.V." in front of "Koninkijke Paketvaart" in the upper line. The Sydney loose ship cancel was used between 1931 and 1935. ("JGI" coll.)

11 September 1934

Cover to Australia, the 5d stamp is cancelled with the Sydney Paquebot machine cancel. It wis recorded from 1935 to 1960, infrequent after 1940. Ex M.V.Morinda. ("Aore" coll.)

3d provisional on a letter to France - very late use of this 1924 stamp. Maybe it slept in a settler's drawer on an outer island until it was needed in 1937. Backstamped on arrival PARIS 20.II.37. (Goron coll.)

19 January 1937

The SS Van Rees provided the regular Dutch KPM line service between Saigon, Java and Sydney until the service stopped in 1941. About every two months the boat touched the New Hebrides en route to Sydney via Batavia and Papua New Guinea. The oval cachet measures 44 x 24 mm and was standard on KPM boats. This here is a newer one as it has the letters "M.V." in the name of the company. Cancelled SYDNEY PAQUEBOT 23 FE 37 and PARIS VIII DISTRIBUTION 27 III 37 (32 days). ("JGI" coll.)

23 February 1937

Sydney Paquebot on a letter to England. With this French 25c stamp it eas heavily underpaid: the colonial letter rate was 50c. 3 August 1937 was the arrival da of Burn Philp's MORINDA in Sydney. (Internet auction)

Letter to Oamaru / Otago, New Zealand with two 1925 French 30c stamps tied by Sydney Paquebot cancel. A late use - the 1938 definitives came on June 1. (Klinger coll.)

Ex "Morinda" : Three 20c stamps paying the correct 1938 60c letter rate to Australia, cancelled in Sydney with the PAQUEBOT cds, recorded 1937 to 1967. ("Aore" coll.)

1938 Sydney PAQUEBOT cds on letter to France: Gold Franc 0,95 were the reason that the letter was transported by Air Mail and arrived in France after only 14 days. Backstamped SYDNEY NSW 3-AIRMAIL-3 15 NO 38 and St Sever s/l'Adour 28.11.38. ("JGI" coll.)

British 10 cg on a letter sent from Aneityum to Sydney on one of the logging company's trading vessels. At Sydney, the letter was postmarked and sent on its way. (Jersey coll.)

British 10 cg and a 10 cg France Libre on a censored letter to Mr. Dorn, Los Angeles.
Image thanks to Caphila, Paris

Letter from Vila to USA, the French and British 5cg and 10cg stamps are cancelled with the Sydney Paquebot canceller. I'm not sure but 30cg could have been the correct rate to the U.S. (Klinger coll.)