A Study of MA-9 Postmarks

Recovery Ship covers from Mercury 9 is a fascinating area of study, not only because of the variety of cachets available (try assemblying a full set of any particular cachet) but also because of the postmarks. To understand the possible dates on the ship's postmarks we need to check the mission times in various places. MA-9 was launched on the 15th (US East Coast time). It was also the 15th for the Altantic Recovery Area and much of the Pacific Recovery Area. However, for a small area in the East Pacific it was just after midnight on the 16th. Splashdown was just before midnight on the 16th (US East Coast time). This translates to 17th in much of the Altantic Recovery Area and the 16th in the Pacific Recovery Area. Thus postmarks would be valid for the 15th, 16th & 17th depending on where the ship was stationed.

As well as the date, the postmarks from some ships are found with poth AM and PM time slugs.

The following is a list of the ship's involved and the known postmark dates¹.

Ship	Known Postmark Dates - Non Beck Covers	Known Postmark Dates - Beck Covers
Pacific (TF-130)
USS Kearsarge	16th MC & 16th HC	16th
USS John A. Bole	16th	16th
USS Chipola	None Known	None Known
USS De Haven	17th	17th
USS Duncan	15th & 17th	17th
USS Epperson	16th am & 16th pm	16th
USS Fletcher	15th	15th
USS Frank Knox	15th & 17th	17th
USS Kawishiwi	None Known	None Known
USS Lofberg	16th	16th
USS Mansfield	15th & 17th	17th
USS Taussig	16th	16th
USS John W. Thomason	16th am & 16th pm	16th am³ & 16th pm
Atlantic (TF-140)
USS Adroit	None Known	None Known
USS Beatty	15th	15th
USS Compton	15th	15th
USS Davis	15th & 18th	None Known
USS Gainard	15th & 16th	15th⁴ & 16th
USS Harwood	15th & 16th⁵	15th² & 16th
USS Hyman	15th	15th
USS Myles C. Fox	15th	16th³ , 18th upside down, 16th over ?³, 16th upside down over ?
USS Opportune	None Known	None Known
USS Stalwart	None Known	None Known
USS Wasp	15th	15th
Not Involved
USS Corry	15th	16th
USS McCaffery	15th & 16th	16th
USS Nantahala	15th	15th
USS Purdy	15th	15th
USS Charles R. Ware	15th am & 15th pm	16th & 16th pm

Notes
1) All ships used hand cancels except the USS Wasp which used a machine cancel and the USS Kearsarge with used both. However, no hand cancels are known on USS Kearsarge Beck covers.
2) From the collection of Eddie Bizub
3) From Owen Murray's website http://beck.ormurray.com/
4) Rare - only 2 known - Originally from the collection of the late Richard Learn
5) From the collection of Tom Steiner