Historical information

This is one in a series of letters written by various seafarers to Lillie Duncan. Lillie was a member of the Ladies' Harbour Lights Guild during the 1920s. She seems to have struck up a number of friendships with seafarers who used the facility. The Ladies' Harbour Lights Guild was responsible for much of the fundraising that constructed and maintained the organisation from its inception in 1902. They were also responsible for arranging dances and other social activities designed to make seafarers welcome in a strange environment.

Significance

The purpose of the Mission to Seafarers is, as it always was, to provide comfort and welfare services to visiting seafarers. This letter, and the series of which it is a part, underscores the importance of making relationships abroad for those who earned their living on the seas

Physical description

Handwritten letter in three parts consisting of a white envelope with two white pages of handwritten text in black ink, using only the face of the page. \there is a blue coloured postage stamp in the top right corner

Inscriptions & markings

Two circular postmarks at the top of the envelope, one to the left and the other to the right. The first is reads: ALICANTE/4 MAR 29/indecipherable, and the second postmark is identical. Stamp horizontally through the circular postmark, is a third which reads: ESPANA/SOLO EXPORTA/ACEITE PURO/DE OLIVA. On the reverse side of the envelope is printed with: ANCHOR-BROCKLEBANK LINE/OF CALCUTTA STEAMERS