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Author
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Topic: Identifying Captain's covers: Skylab 2 and 3
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Ross
Member Posts: 538
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-08-2011 08:46 AM
   
What are peoples' opinion on the following two covers. Are they Captain's covers, Crew covers or something else. 
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yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 832
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-08-2011 08:52 AM
Nice printed covers... they were NOT printed by request of the captain nor available as ship stationary but brought aboard ship by a collector. Thus just a very nice recovery ship cover.Don't know of any captain or crew covers for the Skylab missions. |
Ross
Member Posts: 538
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-08-2011 09:05 AM
Thanks Tom. There is one other interesting feature of these covers, the date. The date for the Skylab 3 (II) cover indicates it was postmarked ashore on the recovery day while the date for the Skylab 4 (III) cover indicates it was postmarked on board the ship, the day after recovery. |
Ross
Member Posts: 538
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-08-2011 09:10 AM
And what about the following Skylab 2 cover? |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 832
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-08-2011 10:34 AM
Ben was on board for the Skylab 4 recovery thus why the cancels are from aboard ship. I don't think he was for Skylab 3 thus the "ashore" cancel for that mission.Left over blank Apollo 17 captain's cover used for Skylab - interesting and unusual - but I would not count this in the captain's cover category for Skylab as it was not specifically created for that mission. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1706
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 11-08-2011 07:10 PM
Well, just to add to the confusion, here is one of the Skylab III printed cachets, postmarked on the day-after-recovery (e.g. - in the ship's post office). The stuffer is a crewman's mess bill from Sept 18 (does not mention the name of the addressee, so it may have been just an available stuffer for someone). And this is courtesy of a trade from the eminent Dr. Durst a few years back...Thoughts, gang?  |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 832
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-08-2011 07:45 PM
Per Dr. Durst, Ben was on board for Skylab 3 and 4 and thus had the printed covers he carried with him cancelled aboard ship (day after recovery).Poozer - the handwritting on the address of your cover looks like that of Dr. Ben |
Ross
Member Posts: 538
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-12-2011 07:36 AM
I was just checking my emails from the last year or two and came across this very interesting description of Ben's experience with covers from the Skylab missions. The ASTP Recovery Ship Covers were an outgrowth from contacts made from my 2-week September voyage aboard the USS New Orleans for the Recovery of Skylab II. Covers were subsequently serviced for the Skylab III and ASTP missions.
For the Skylab missions I had 2 sets of covers signed by the astronauts and the members of the various participating and support services. NASA had a full complement of operating medical laboratories — metabolic, blood, cardiovascular. etc., etc.; Communications — various press, radio and TV syndicates, NASA/Navy Recovery helicopters for Swim, Crew Recovery, Photo, Communications, Relay, Weather, and Reconnaissance — all of which provided me a full complement of signatures of all personnel involved on the two sets of covers I provided for them. For the Skylab mission in which I participated as a member of the press for the SU Astrophile, I was invited to dinner with the Captain, R. Carius, obtaining his signature and other press in attendance (three press and the Captain), as well as the high-ranking officer staff, and later the Navy Recovery Staff.
I made it a point to become acquainted with the ship's postal clerk, and visited the ship's mail room daily, servicing two covers from the Pearl Harbor, HI start, then each day to document the date, distance covered , and duration of the ship's course toward the planned splashdown point in the South Pacific. The Navy Clerk offered me one of two Apollo 14 PRS Captain's Covers he found in one of the drawers, and a CBS camera crew member from the Pacific NW sent me an Apollo 11 PRS Captain's Cover — wonderful items from truly generous people!
The various groups involved with aspects of the recovery, engaged in several (I think six in all) SIMEX (Simulated Exercises) as ordered by the Captain. These were dress rehearsals that were complete with the deployment of a dummy Apollo spacecraft, that was subsequently tracked as to its 'splashdown' position, which triggered the deployment of the array of helicopters (mentioned in par. 2), coordinating the recovery. I was able to fly aboard the photo helicopter, and obtain documentation of the recovery process. These SIMEX's were so realistic that on recovery day unfurled, it seemed to be just another practice session.
Beside the wavy line hand cancel, I obtained the solid obliterator line hand cancel which was not normally used for letters, but for packages.
All covers and postcards were obtained on the ship from their souvenir shop, PO or specific personnel, which I serviced myself while aboard. The PO was closed on Recovery Day as I recall.
From prior contact with Morris Beck, I was able to obtain his printed cacheted covers for the two Skylab and ASTP missions, which I dispatched to the ship addressed to the various participating groups, and obtained some truly spectacular flown and signed covers. For Captain's Covers for Skylab III, I sent off to the New Orleans sales/supply officer for 50 Captain's Covers for servicing; for Skylab II, I think I serviced at least 100 covers. |
NAAmodel#240
Member Posts: 356
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted 11-14-2011 06:45 AM
So is Ben saying he views them as Captain's covers? |
Ross
Member Posts: 538
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-15-2011 06:33 AM
While Ben refers to them as Captain's covers, it's clear from his description that they aren't. At a stretch, if more information was available, the 50 + 100 might be classified as Crew covers. However, with the given information, I have classified then as 'Other', neither Captain nor Crew covers. However, for two reasons, they are also not just ordinary PRS covers either. Firstly, they were on board the PRS while most other PRS covers were postmarked ashore. And secondarly, the quantity. The Navy had issued instructions that only two covers were to be serviced per person. In this case Ben was able to get 50 & 100 serviced. Thus, I believe, they rate a special classification beyond a simple PRS cover. |
fredtrav
Member Posts: 1799
From: Birmingham AL
Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 02-13-2012 04:42 PM
While going through several boxes of covers, I have come across several covers I was wondering about re Skylab Recovery Ship cover.I have one with a Skylab III cachet signed by Admiral Paddock commander task force 130 postmarked Sep. 25, PM, 1973 USS New Orleans I have several with a Skylab cachet canceled USS New Orleans Feb 8 AM 1974 with a bar line cancellation and several with the same info with a wavy line cancel. Would any of these especially the ones on day of recovery be captains covers? There are also many covers with a Skylab cachet with a Feb 9 (AM) 1974 USS New Orleans cancel signed by the various helo pilots, maintenance crews, recovery engineers etc. I have just begun to look at all the covers and there are quite a few, but these stood out. |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 832
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 02-13-2012 10:04 PM
Basically there are no "captain's covers" for Skylab missions. All the covers with the "recovery date" were all cancelled in Hawaii and not on the ship.The "better" covers are the ones dated the day after recovery Feb 9 as they were aboard the ship and cancelled the day after as the ships PO was closed on the recovery date. |
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