- £825.00
LEINSTER’ 1918. The steamship ‘Leinster’, owned by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. operated as a mail boat and a passenger ferry between Kingstown, Ireland, and Holyhead, England. On the morning of 10th October 1918, when only a few hours out from Kingstown, she was torpedoed by a German submarine, UB-123. The first torpedo struck her near the bow where 22 Post Office officials were sorting the mail. Of these 21 were killed instantly. She began to settle and an effort was made to take her in tow. A second torpedo was fired, this one exploding in the engine room. In total, of the 680 passengers and crew, 480 were killed. Only a very small amount of the mail she was carrying was salvaged. This O.H.M.S. cover to London, posted Dublin 10 OCT has a very fine strike of the boxed SALVED FROM / S.S. “LEINSTER” cachet.
