Tin Can Mail

Tin Can Mail was just that, using swimmers to pick up and deliver mail to and from steamships visiting Niuafo'ou island of Tonga. In the early 1900s, with no facilities for handling large ships, Arthur Tindall started that mail service via the Union Steamship Co. of Auckland, New Zealand. Any mail with a Niuafo'ou cancel during this time was carried by the tin can mail service.
 * c.1927, a small circular cachet was added to cards and covers.
 * Several other cachets soon appeared. The mail was carried by canoe beginning in 1931. Covers are found covered with many different cachets.
 * With a volcano erupting in September 1946, residents were evacuated and Tin Can Mail service was ended.
 * Service was revived by the Matson cruise line in 1962. It continued until 1983 when an airport was built.

 File:Tin can cover.jpg|1934 cover. File:Tin can mail 1963.jpg|1963 cover.  [[Category:T]]