NEARLY 50 years since they were posted via a so called tin can (actually a plastic drum), stamps have brought contact with the family of an old friend for a Yeoford couple.

They are David and Paddy Dornom who celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 2018.

When he was in the Merchant Navy David sailed the world - sending letters home to Paddy and their children or even himself if the stamps were particularly interesting.

They lived then in West Sussex but moved to Devon in 1994, when David retired. 

David said he had a fantastic stamp collection but they had decided they no longer wanted it and so sold it to a local person. 

This is where the story gets interesting.

Alan Quick, the "Crediton Courier’s" editorial manager, received an email from a British citizen, living in Hong Kong. 

She explained that she and her father, who lives in Hampshire, share a stamp collection which he keeps.

Since she first went abroad at the age of 11, she has been sending back postcards to keep the collection going.  Her father is also an ex-Merchant Navy man.   

“Talking to my father recently on the phone we discussed some stamps he used to have when I was a young child that were my favourites because they were in the shape of bananas! They have since been lost and both of us were lamenting this. 

“He remembered that the banana stamps came from an island somewhere in Tonga. After our call I Googled ’banana stamps from Tonga’ and found some for sale online! 

“What a great surprise present for my dad I thought... anyhow, this is why I am contacting you, when the stamps arrived from a dealer in Germany, they were still attached to the envelope they had been sent on, which to me added to the stamp’s history/charm!  The envelope was addressed to: ‘Commander D A Dornom R.N.R, West Wittering, Sussex’.

“I Googled his name,  and what did I find?  Your article on him and his wife for their Diamond Wedding anniversary in 2018 and his story of his days at sea! He sailed on the sister ship to my father’s!”

The lady explained that mail from these islands was called “tin can mail” because cruise liners were too big to berth alongside the islands so mail was thrown to and from the ship in a drum, which originally would have been a “Tin Can”. The island in question is Niuafo’ou, part of the Tonga group.

She asked if Alan could make contact with Mr and Mrs Dornom to tell them the story of how the stamps from a small island in the Pacific, starting their journey to England via a tin can, have been around the globe and are now in Hong Kong waiting to go back to England. 

David said that the stamps had been posted on his third and last voyage on the Orsova where he was serving as Chief Officer on ship, while doing seven months cruising the Pacific islands, including Tonga.

“I could not believe it when I received your email,” he told Alan.  “I shall be contacting this lady.”

At the bottom of the letter with its two banana stamps can clearly be seen “Despatched by Tin Can Mail at Niuafo’ou Island, Tonga, March 30, 1971.”