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George Grenfell, BMS FRGS; on the records of the British Baptist Missionary Society and on additional
information contributed by the author. By the Rev Lawson Forfeitt, Mr Emil Torday, and others".

The reverse of the card, sent from the Vice-Consulate at Old Calabar, 3 November 1892 reads as follows:
"Got your card left at my Apmts in town. Thanks very much for calling: so sorry I was not in England to see
you. Hope to be on Congo-way next summer or autumn and then to see you and other old friends of this
Mission. Kind regards to everyone there please. I am remaining permanently in this quarter, and my visits to
Congo now will only be as an old friend to old friends. Always glad to hear from anyone down there. Yours."

However, the most significant aspect is that it is signed by Roger Casement, the Irish politician. Before the
first World War (during which he found that his views did not go down well with the British authorities) he
had served a long and distinguished career in the British Foreign Service which he joined in 1882 and from
which he retired due to ill health in 1912. During his career with the Foreign Office he became British
Consul for Mozambique (1895-98), Angola (1898-1900), Congo (1901-04) and Brazil (1906-11) (Ref. 1).
He also gained international recognition with his work for the British Foreign Office by highlighting
exploitation of labour by the Belgians in what was at the time the "Congo Free State"; the subsequent paper
he published on the subject led to a restructuring of their rule in the Congo. An important historical figure
indeed, and a nice contemporary postcard linking his diplomatic duties to the Congo missionaries.

Reference:
I. www.northantrim.com/rogercasement.htm

Figure 1 shows Proud type D1 (Ref 1) cancellation of 1915 which simply reads "BOAT TRAIN" with no
specific indication of a Nigerian origin. Ray Harris showed Rob a partial strike of this, dated ?? DE 15, on a
Nigeria 1/2d KGV definitive and asked what is known about the service. The answer seems to be "not much".

Ince (Ref. 1) has a short reference taken from the Nigeria Official Gazette of 27 December 1928:
"Boat Train Letter Boxes
There are four boxes in the mail vans on the train leaving Apapa - two in the Kano sections, two in the Jos
section. On the UP Boat Train clearances are effected at Kaduna Junction, Kano and Jos. On the DOWN
Boat Train, clearances will be effected at Apapa only.
A late fee of 1d additional is levied on each item ... ......"
His list of the TPO postmarks does not include this one, but he lists skeleton c.d.s markings reading JEBBA
IBADAN /TPO/ DOWN and IBADAN JEBBA / TPO/ UP with an EKD of 13 March 16. It seems likely that
this 1915 cancellation is a forerunner, for use between Jebba and Apapa.

A history of the construction of Nigerian Railways can help
to put the 1915 date in context. At that date the Western
Railway was operational between Apapa and Jebba, with a
ferry link across the Niger, then onwards by rail to Minna,
connecting with the line from Baro to Kano. The Niger
Bridge at Jebba opened in 1916, to complete the rail link
from Lagos to Kano throughout. At that time the Niger
River TPO was also in operation and care needs to be taken
not to attribute River TPO cancellation markings to the
railway.

Reference
1. Ince J.F., The Travelling Post offices of Nigeria 1903 — 1939,
ppll, 20-22, WASC, 1992