Flatboat Carried Mail

USA, FLATBOAT CARRIED MAIL TO HENDERSON COVER 08-08-1985

 A flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways. The flatboat could be any size, but essentially it is large, sturdy tub with a hull that displaces water and so floats in the water. This differentiates the flatboat from the raft, which floats on the water. - Wikipedia

This is a Flatboat

Carried by Ski Train, Rio Grande- USA

USA 1981 Carried cover on The Rio Grande Ski Train.

Cover was carried on a Ski Train from March 28 to 29, via the Moffat Road. Nice cachet of Rio Grande Main Line and a round cancellation denoting that it was carried on the Ski Train

Missile Mail, USA

United States, 1959 Missile Mail. Landing of the first official Missile mail.

As per Wikipedia:

n 1959 the U.S. Navy submarine USS Barbero assisted the Post Office Department, predecessor to the United States Postal Service (USPS) in its search for faster mail transportation with the only delivery of "Missile Mail". On 8 June 1959, Barbero fired a Regulus cruise missile — its nuclear warhead having earlier been replaced by two Post Office Department mail containers — at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Naval Station Mayport. Twenty-two minutes later, the missile struck its target. The Regulus cruise missile was launched with a pair of Aerojet-General 3KS-33,000 [3 sec duration, 33,000 lbf (150 kN) thrust] solid-propellant boosters. A turbojet engine sustained the long-range cruise flight after the boosters were dropped.

The USPS had officially established a branch post office on Barbero and delivered some 3000 pieces of mail to it before Barbero left Norfolk, Virginia. The mail consisted entirely of commemorative postal coversaddressed to President of the United States Dwight Eisenhower, other government officials, the Postmasters General of all members of the Universal Postal Union, and so on. They contained letters from United States Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield. Their postage (four cents domestic, eight cents international) had been cancelled "USS Barbero Jun 8 9.30am 1959" before the boat put to sea. In Mayport, the Regulus was opened and the mail forwarded to the post office in Jacksonville, Florida, for sorting and routing.

Upon witnessing the missile's landing, Summerfield stated, "This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail, is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office Department of any nation."Summerfield proclaimed the event to be "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world",and predicted that "before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."

Notwithstanding the Postmaster General's enthusiasm, in reality the Department of Defense saw the measure more as a demonstration of U.S. missile capabilities. Experts believe that the cost of using missile mail could never be justified.

Post Buoy or Floating Mail containers

Post Buoy or Floating Mail containers in Sea in which mail was posted. This is a Hapag Llyod cover dropped off the coast of Azores ( Acores) , Portugal. 1976.

A Postbuoy cover, which is philatelic in nature with a cachet and a post mark of a postbuoy that was placed in the Kiel Bight in June 1984 on the occasion of the 19th World Postal Congress at Hamburg.

Bottle Mail - Dropped at the Strait of Messina

This rare cover I have is the famous and somewhat romantic sounding " Message in a bottle" or Bottle mail. The bottle was dropped with this cover by the M.S Christian Maersk and also has the signature of the Chief Engineer.

Carried by Manpowered flight

This is a philatelic cover which I have which is quite unique in the history of aerophilately in the respect that it was carried by a Man-powered flight called Jupiter. This is an experimental flight made by the RAF of Great Britain. It is signed by the pilot and he managed to fly a distance of 600 yards. Must have very good thigh muscles indeed!!

Harkara Mail - carried by Postal runner , India

This mail cover is based on the enactment of Harkara mail, which was followed in India during the early 18th and 19th Century. The 'harkara' runners were fearless people armed with a sword or a spear , and used to carry the posts or dak from one place to the another.
The enactment happened in Jampex 2005 and is signed by the harkara runner.

Total of only 100 covers had been carried in this event. So it is a bit rarer than the other harkara runner covers from India