Lot 229

Offices in China, 1934 (February 14), French naval cover to the ship "Ville d'Ys" at Shanghai, struck with circular unit cachet FORCES NAVALES D'EXTRÊME-ORIENT / FRANCHISE MILITAIRE and octagonal maritime TPO strike KOBE A MARSEILLE / No. 1 (4 Mar), enclosing full two-page letter on "Dumont D'Urville" stationery datelined "En mer le 14 Février 1934," addressed "Aviso 'Ville d'Ys", quite fresh, fine-very fine and scarce.

The enclosed letter from Guillaume Le Bigot, later ministerial delegate for the Navy, to Émile Piquet describes a "magnificent tour" of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, contrasting the freedom of those "oceanic natures" with conditions in China, where French sailors lived "locked in concessions by the force of things," and recounts internal frictions aboard ship, including a second-in-command who "disorganized the services" and "sowed discord."