1885, 2c postal stationery cover, uprated with 3c blue-grey & red, 5c green & grey, an 10c on 50c surcharge, tied by St. Thomas c.d.s. (30 Nov), registered to Stettin, Germany, with c.d.s. arrival backstamp (20.12), return address of a sailor on board the “S.M.S. Stosch, Charlotte Amalia (St. Thomas)”, quite fresh and scarce.
The S.M.S. Stosch was a Bismarck-class Corvette built for the Imperial German Navy in 1870s. Throughout the early 1880s, she was the flagship of the East Asia Squadron, later serving as a training ship for naval cadets, during which time she regularly cruised to the West Indies.
