Page 9 - Cameo 53

Acknowledgements are made to our members Bernard Hughes, Bernard Mabbett, Jeremy Martin and
myself for help with various West Africa countries. With the recent second edition of Martin &
Walton's West African Censorship (which also includes both military and all World War I censorship)
members will not be inclined to buy this new work for information on West Africa. However, for
those interested in Basutoland to Zanzibar via (alphabetically!) Eritrea and Madagascar, and civil
censorship generally, it is an essential work.

British Postal Rates 1937 to 2000 by Robert Johnson and Gordon Peet. Published by the authors. 164
A4 pages, wire spiral bound. No ISBN. Available from Robert Johnson, c/o Osborne Clarke, 50
Queen Charlotte Street, BRISTOL BS 1 4HE, United Kingdom. Price £20. Postage & packing £2.75
UK first class, £2.10 UK second class, £5.70 Europe letter rate, £3.50 Europe printed paper rate,
£7.10 Australasia & Far East airmail, £6.50 rest of world airmail; or £3.20 surface printed paper mail
world-wide. Cheques should be made payable to `Gordon Peet and Robert Johnson'. Also available
from Vera Trinder in London or Leonard Hartmann in the United States. Reviewed by Frank Walton.

This newly published work pulls together a vast amount of data concerning British postal rates from
January 1937 through to April 2000. Whilst all internal UK rates are provided, it will be the overseas
rates, both surface and airmail, that will be of greatest use to West African collectors when trying to
understand the rates on inbound mail. The book is clearly and logically laid out and very easy to use.
Highly recommended.

Biafra : The Stamps, History and Postal History of the Rebel State during the Nigerian Civil War by
Dudley Prestedge. 114 A4 pages, including five colour plates, hardbound. Published by the West
Africa Study Circle. ISBN 0 9525687 9 9. Available from the WASC librarian, Dudley Ingoldby-
Williams, Field House, Northfield Avenue, Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames RG9 3PB, United Kingdom.
Price £28 (non-members) or £22 to WASC members.

Hot off the press! This definitive work describes in immense detail the stamps and postal history in
Biafra during the war in the 1960s. A substantial amount of information is provided on the war itself.
A full review will appear in the next issue.

S.S. Apapa

Jeremy Martin

This Elder Dempster steamer was built in 1914 by Harland and Wolff Ltd. The card illustrated on the front
cover of this edition of Cameo was written in Sierra Leone on 2 October 1915 and received a London F.S.
Paquebot cancellation of 16 October 1915.

The Apapa was sunk in November 1917. She was within two miles of Point Lynes, North Wales, when she
was torpedoed - a particularly tragic incident since she had been escorted until a few hours before the attack
took place. The first torpedo stopped Apapa; boats were lowered without difficulty but a second torpedo
caused the ship to keel over and sink quite quickly. The funnel took one lifeboat with it and others were
smashed by falling masts or entangled in the wireless aerials.

As a result of the attack 39 Elder Dempster crew and many passengers lost their lives (Ref. 1).

Reference

1. Davies P.N., The Trade Makers, p207, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1973