P. & O. S.S. Kaiser-i-Hind [Emperor of India]

11,400 tons, 16,000 Horse-Power, at the Anchorage, Bombay.

This postcard gives some sense of the size of the freighters sailing between Europe and India in the early 20th century. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, travel between Marseille and Bombay was reduced to two weeks from a six month journey around the Cape of Good Horn in Africa. Not only could many more passengers make the trip, so could goods like postcards printed in Europe find their way back to publishers and distributors in India, before being hastened back to Europe with a message.

Postmarked July 8, 1924, Norway and addressed to L.B. Rice 106 Summer Street Newton Center Miss. USA: "Dear Laurie: Spent last night at North Cape, most northerly point in Europe. It is light as day all night Spending summer in Europe then going around the world. Good luck in tennis, Gordon."