Having always had a love of ships and naval history, I suppose, as a philatelist, it was only a matter of time before I developed an interest into maritime postal history. Like many philatelic pursuits it has become quite an obsession! Recently I acquired paquebot postcard from the S.S. Homeric and I was determined to find out more. (Fig 1.)

homeric fig 1

On the reverse is a short letter is on the reverse.
It reads as follows:

July 4
Monday.

“Dear Joe,
This is the top-deck of the thing you see on the other side. Mama and Papa and some others saw me off midnight Saturday, I was happy only when sitting down. But everything is lovely now. You might write me some time..

The card bears a Paquebot mark and a New City cancellation for July 15, 1927 and is addressed to Iowa. (Fig 2.)

homeric fig 2

A pocket history of the liner will paint a broader picture:

The Homeric started life as the German vessel Columbus. The hull of Columbus was originally launched in 1913, having been built by F. Schichau of Danzig, for the Norddeutscher line but remained unfinished for the duration of WWI. (Fig 3.)

homeric fig 3

In 1910 Columbus was ceded to Britain, sold or (given as replacement to the White Star Line and was completed as a coal burning ship (even though the technology was out of date). It was not until 1922 that she was finally delivered and renamed Homeric. In 1923 she was converted to oil and in early 1924 was given a refit. She was slow (at least 20% slower than other ships of the time) but apparently was very stable and was popular for this reason.

homeric fig 4

Along with the Majestic and the Olympic White Star used her on the transatlantic run from Southampton to New York, stopping at Cherbourg. She was the smallest of the three at 33,526 tons. (Fig 4. above)

She was scrapped in Scotland in 1936 after only 13 years in actual service.