U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History

1886 5c brown stationery entire envelope, canceled "SHIP", addressed to U.S.S. Monocacy at Yokohama, Japan, with 3 July 1886 arrival pmk on front, repeated on reverse, cover redirected to Canton, with Hong Kong (July 9) and Canton (July 10) arrival markings on back (USS Monocacy, a US Navy gunboat served for nearly four decades in the Far East. During the late 1860s, Monocacy generally operated in Japanese waters, performing survey work and protecting commerce during the unsettled conditions then prevailing in much of the country. In 1871, the gunboat participated in an expedition to Korea's Han River which resulted in the seizure of forts there. Though also seeing duty elsewhere in the region, she spent much of the next thirty years in Chinese waters, patrolling that nation's great rivers and coastal areas)
Estimate: $500