posted 09-10-2023 09:18 AM               

Space Cover of the Week #718: Recovery Ships Reusing Recovery Cachets

Without a doubt, it was an honor for each US Navy ship that was involved in the recovery task force for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. The crews took pride in their efforts to make sure the recovery operations went smoothly. The training and preparations took time but were necessary to insure a successful end to the mission.

Even though it was assumed that the designated prime recovery ship would get all the glory, the secondary recovery ships needed to be ready in case of an emergency or simply a splashdown in a contingency recovery zone. Gemini 8 is a great example of why the Navy trained for contingencies. Due to a thruster malfunction the spacecraft was forced to reenter early and ended up splashing down in a completely different ocean than was planned. But because of the pre-planning for contingencies USS Leonard F. Mason was there to complete the mission with a very successful recovery.

Covers exist for most prime and secondary recovery ships starting with MA-8. Some ships created their own cachets celebrating their participation in the mission. One of the most frequently seen is USS Decatur's cachet that was produced to celebrate their recovery of the MA-4 spacecraft. It was created after the recovery and specific for MA-4 but was used on most mail from the ship for some time after the recovery. USS Decatur was also assigned as part of the secondary recovery fleet for Wally Schirra's MA-8 flight. The first cover pictured shows the cachet they produced for MA-8 indicating that they were part of the recovery fleet. As you can see from the postmark, this cachet was still in use nine months after the recovery.

The second cover pictured is from USS John R. Pierce which is the ship that recovered Scott Carpenter's MA-7 spacecraft. Helicopters from the prime recovery ship USS Intrepid retrieved Carpenter but was too far away to recovery the spacecraft. USS John R. Pierce was nearby and completed the recovery. The cover has a Goldcraft cachet that was not specific to the ship but this particular cover was postmarked 2 weeks after the flight. Is it possible it is a return to port date or simply a cover sent from the ship to maybe a family member?

Do you have any other covers with specific recovery cachets not postmarked on the recovery date? Show us what you have.

posted 09-11-2023 10:48 AM            

I really liked it visually and because it was cheap I bought it. I was very pleasantly surprised to find on its arrival that the reverse had this cachet stamped on to it...