This is a small selection of RN mail from the East African theatre in WW1. Examples of censored mail from the ageing cruiser HMS Challenger, and the AMC HMS Laconia, both involved in the blockade of the German cruiser SMS Konigsberg in the Rufiji delta in 1915, were shown. In addition, two items bearing Zanzibar stamps were shown, and are worthy of note.
One bore the square censor mark PASSED R.N.A.S. CENSOR SQUADRON N0.8. The other was a civilian letter posted from Brighton to a Miss Blackburne, who, it appears, was interned in German East Africa. It bears two Zanzibar stamps overstruck wih Gould’s 2A24 naval censor. It was forwarded to her, bearing the printed label ‘INTERNED D.O.A’. The conclusion is that the item was forwarded under Royal Naval authority. Another unusual item was from the expedition mounted by the navy to Lake Tanganyika to destroy the German naval presence on the lake.