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Finnish Maritime Mail
Although mail had been carried by sea between Finland and Sweden since the
17th.Century, distinctive maritime mail postmarks were not introduced in Finland until
the 1890s. The earliest were undated straightline cachets inscribed in Swedish 'FRAN
UTLANDET' i.e. from abroad. These marks were applied to franked but
unpostmarked mail arriving by sea at Finnish ports. Most of this mail had been
posted on board the ships and was taken on arrival to the port's maritime postoffice
for postmarking and onward transmission.
1892 Swedish postcard from Stockholm posted on arrival at the Finnish port ofHango
with 'FRAN UTLANDET' maritime cachet and Hango circular datestamp applied as a
transit postmark. The card would have been taken by rail from Hango to Helsinki.
This cachet was used at Hango from 1887 to 1923.
In the late 19th Century Hango, a small town on the Finnish south western coast was
an important port of arrival for ships arriving from Sweden and Germany
