“We will soon be watching for the natives to come out for the tin can full of letters which will be lowered from this boat.  Hope you will get yours soon.”

SS Mariposa, Oceanic Line, launched 1931

Eight-year-old Kenny Begg of Musselburgh, Dunedin was probably more interested in the spear and bow and arrows its writer had purchased in Fiji “where the natives have great bushy heads of hair and dark brown skins” than in how his letter had got to his family’s letterbox in June 1935.  But today the contents of the envelope are not nearly as interesting as the envelope itself and when my father found it among his old papers it piqued my curiosity.

The letter’s author, Mrs Frances Cranmer, had been visiting New Zealand with her husband, an executive in the Philco Radio Co in the US.  Kenny’s father, Eric Begg managed the chain of music and electrical shops, Charles Begg & Co Ltd, who were Philco’s sole agent in New Zealand.  The Cranmers had spent some time with the Begg family and all three Begg sons received a letter via tin can mail.

Mr and Mrs Cranmer in New Zealand

Mrs Cranmer wrote the letters on board the Oceanic Line’s SS Mariposa, on its cruise from Australia to California.  Along the route the Mariposa sailed past Niuafo’ou, a doughnut shaped  island in the Tongan group located between Fiji and Samoa.  Niuafo’ou was an active volcano with no harbour or beaches so ships could not land there.  To receive and send mail islanders swam out to anchored boats to collect the mail which was lowered down to them from the ship in a tin can.  Kenny’s letter, which Mrs Cranmer posted in the tin can, would have been taken back to the island to be stamped with the tin can mail’s distinctive stamps, and then swum out to the next visiting vessel.

Tin can mail postmen collecting the mail c1930 (Angela Savage)

Although seen by some as a tourist gimmick the tin can mail was a genuine mail service, all mail to and from the island arrived and left in this way.  The service began in 1882 but it was when an American, Walter Quensell, conceived the idea of stamping the letters in 1928 that it became popular.  This led to passenger ships passing Niuafo’ou as often as twice a week enabling their guests to send letters which  “bring you a faint touch of the romance of these South Seas through which we are passing”  as the envelope so delightfully puts it.  Swimming out to a ship was difficult and in addition the waters were infested with sharks.  After one of the swimmers died from a shark attack Tonga’s Queen Salote insisted the mailmen operate from a canoe, an instruction which was not always followed.

The tin can mail service lasted over 100 years and was of great value to the islanders, creating a source of income as well as enabling them to get fresh vegetables, meat and news.  In 1946 Niuafo’ou erupted and all the islanders were evacuated.  Although the service resumed on their return 12 years later the arrival of an airport on Niuafo’ou marked the end of the tin can mail service.

Niuafo’ou (Wikipedia)

But back to our letter.  After Niuafo’ou, Mrs Cranmer told Kenny, their next stop was Pago Pago “where the Samoans live.  They are dark skinned people too but do not have hair like the Fijians”.   Frances Cranmer’s letter is nearly 80 years old now but her kindness in remembering the little boy she’d met briefly and taking the trouble to send him what is now a fascinating piece of history is still remembered.