Existing comment:
Mail Ships:
Both Hindenburg and Titanic underwrote expenses by carrying mail. Hindenburg was the largest flying post office ever. It provided the first regularly scheduled, entirely by air post service between Europe and North America. Titanic was the largest floating post office of its day and bore its official status in its name, RMS Titanic -- Royal Mail Ship Titanic. Travelers on both ships enjoyed onboard postal service.
At least 360 of the 17,609 pieces of mail carried by Hindenburg on its fatal flight survived the disaster, much of it charred. Some of Titanic's mail may survive at the bottom of the North Atlantic; other paper artifacts have been successfully recovered from the wreck. While Hindenburg's crew had no time to save mail, Titanic's mail crew, comprised of both American and British clerks, struggled heroically to save what they could of the 3,364 mailbags while water surged into the mailroom. The North Atlantic claimed the bags and the lives of all the clerks. |