The S.S. Normandie Arrives (1935)

When the S. S. Normandie arrived in New York Harbor on June 3rd, 1935, amid a fanfare of steamer whistles, and the otherwise noisy welcome of an exuberant American public, it carried aboard nine thousand seven hundred and fifty three covers for collectors.

The new pride of the French Merchant Marine, flagship of the French Line, had left Havre, France, on May 29th, for its maiden voyage. Great interest throughout the world had been shown in the new giant ship, and so it was that the world’s largest ship brought the world’s largest philatelic seapost mail to the world’s largest city. So great was the accumulation of both philatelic and regular mail, in fact, that until Sunday, June 2nd, the day before the liner docked in New York, mail clerks were kept busy cancelling the covers.

The cancellation machine, with its special S/S “NORMANDIE” VOYAGE INAUGURAL canceller is of the standard rotary type and is built in a special compact form to fit the needs of ship mail. Letters of all sizes and shapes are handled with equal ease in this newly improved device, which was designed for special use on the ship.

Above: corner card of the official French Line cachet covers

A brief talk with the mail clerk in charge of operations assured us that the work, while long and arduous, was completed as the boat came up the bay to its berth in New York harbor. The accompanying illustration shows the last cover mailed on this maiden voyage.

French collectors, who had an equal interest in the philatelic affairs of the boat, had mail aboard furnishing an additional 5,000 covers. A third group of philatelic mail completed the roster of non-commercial pieces. Several large advertisers, realizing the value of stamp publicity, added their quota of special material. One house, however, made the unfortunate mistake of “punch-holing” all its copies of the special government adhesives before applying them to the envelopes.

Above: last cover mailed on the maiden voyage of the S.S. Normandie, and autographed by various Normandie officials.

The official French Line cover, used on all collector mail ordered from the French Line Philatelic Agent, was a three color envelope, with the design of the Normandie seal outlined in gold as the central figure. A house adhesive, or advertising stamp, of the line was also added on the reverse of the covers.

The last cover placed in the cancelling machine was held out of the regular mail and given to one of the officials. It is illustrated here, with the special permission of the French Line. The cover was passed among various officials who had had some part in the handling of the Normandie, and each of them added their autographs.

Above: mail receiving cancellation aboard S.S. Normandie.

The Normandie stamp, especially issued by the French Ministry of Posts, to mark the entry of the new liner into service, is blue, following the usual color for that denomination in French stamps. The design as engraved by the celebrated artist, Decaris, from a drawing by Albert Sebille, noted marine artist.

The Normandie carries six radio units and broke the records for radio messages received and sent on her first trip over. Her call letters are FNSK.

The Normandie left New York for the return voyage on Friday, June 7th. Although her operators had said that no attempt would be made to establish records on the eastbound trip, the ship made 711 miles in 21 h0urs, averaging 30.91 knots between noon Saturday and noon Sunday. The former record was held by the North German Lloyd liner Bremen, reported as a total of 688 miles, averaging 29.09 knots for her best day’s run on March 8, 1934.

Madame Lebrun sent a message of thanks to Mayor La Guardia for New York’s cordial reception.