Imperial Russia Russian notepaper 1904/1905

[gerardkenny]

This arrived recently (included unexpectedly with WWW2 & WWI items) and I was wondering if anyone can help to decipher the writing on it ?

I appears to be an notification from a Russian or possibly British officer, I believe to a German (in English), however it's on Russian headed & stamped note paper from 1904/1905.

I was wondering if anyone can make out some of the more difficult to read words and figure out the context for this ? From the dates it's possibly a christmas leave notice.

24 Dec (23 Dec) 1904 _______________ 1904/2

6 Jan (7 Jan) 1905 5

To Captain of ______________________

Dear Sir,

I am honoured to inform ________

That you can go to _______

(to __________ if __ ________,)

This day. -

Superintendent

Captain __________

[Hauptmann]

I've managed to fill in all but the Russian (Cyrillic) as another member will have to do that, the long word after "To Captain of" and the name of the Superintendent.

Hope this helps out.

Dan

24 Dec (23 Dec) 1904 Discharge1904/2

6 Jan (7 Jan) 1905 5

To Captain of ______________________

Dear Sir,

I am honoured to inform you,

that you can go to home,

(to Hamburg if you please,)

This day. -

Superintendent

Captain __________

[gerardkenny]

Thanks for that, does help a lot If anyone can add to the names that would be a great help too.

Also if anyone has a theory why a (presumably) British officer would be discharging a German on Russian notepaper ? I am completely stumped on that side of this too (though there is probably a blindingly obvious explanation for that !).

[gerardkenny]

I have been told that the notepaper heading means 'For Memory' or 'For Notes'.

Also that the upper right quadrant of the stamp possibly says '2й эскадры флота' - '2nd squadron of fleet'.

If anyone else can add to the unravelling of this it'd be appreciated. Especially an explanation around why a Russian officer writing in English discharging an apparent German back to Hamburg in christmas 1904.

[gerardkenny]

I have just found out what the stamp appears to be -

" Флагманский интендантъ штаба 2-й эскадры флота тихого океана"

Superintenant of second squadron,pacific fleet hq"

So it appears to be a Russia-Japaneese war related document after all! I would still love to work out the names if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

I now think the part

'To Captain of ______________________' is the name of a ship possibly in the 2nd Squadron Pacific Fleet. So to work out the name of that ship and also the name of the Captain (the one it's addressed to or the one it is from) and if they were involved in the battle of Tsushima would be very interesting !!

*

Also heard the end name may be ''Superintendent Captain, Mr Witte'' ??

Edited March 29, 2010 by gerardkenny

[Mark C]

Gosh, doesn't anyone notice that it's not "24 Dec (23 Dec) 1904 Discharge 1904/2," it's "24 Dec (23 Dec) 1904 Diego Suarez 1904/2." That's the island in the Indian Ocean, written in plain English (Latin) letters.

And correct, the printed heading just means "memo."

[Mark C]

The writer is not British, but Russian. The line over the "m" in "home" is something Russians do to distinguish similar Cyrillic letters. De Witte is a common enough name in the Russian officer corps.

[Mark C]

I think the first part of the ship's name in "To the captain of the ----" is "Johan"

[gerardkenny]

Thanks for that. I think you are right about Diego Suarez, I was just googling it there and came across this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antsiranana

The Second Pacific Squadron of Imperial Russia anchored and was resupplied at Diego-Suarez on its way to the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.

So it does seem to tie in with the above. I also agree that Johan is the firstname in the above. Looking at it again now I am not 100% sure that 'Home' is the correct word from the document. I have a feeling it may be the name of a place rather than the word home. Thanks again for those - I had no idea Diego Suarez was there but looking at it again it is obvious that is what it is. If anyone else can add anything to this please fire away.

[Hugh]

Thanks for that. I think you are right about Diego Suarez, I was just googling it there and came across this

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Antsiranana

The Second Pacific Squadron of Imperial Russia anchored and was resupplied at Diego-Suarez on its way to the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.

So it does seem to tie in with the above. I also agree that Johan is the firstname in the above. Looking at it again now I am not 100% sure that 'Home' is the correct word from the document. I have a feeling it may be the name of a place rather than the word home. Thanks again for those - I had no idea Diego Suarez was there but looking at it again it is obvious that is what it is. If anyone else can add anything to this please fire away.

I make the name to be Johannisberger. Was there such a ship in the fleet?

Alternatively, if it is a man's name, keep in mind that many nations sent observers to this war. (I have a delightful set of journals kept by Sir Ian Hamilton, who served with the Russian Army.) That may be what's going on.

Best,

Hugh

[gerardkenny]

I make the name to be Johannisberger. Was there such a ship in the fleet?

Alternatively, if it is a man's name, keep in mind that many nations sent observers to this war. (I have a delightful set of journals kept by Sir Ian Hamilton, who served with the Russian Army.) That may be what's going on.

Best,

Hugh

I have been checking that and it's hard to tell for sure - I brightened up the image and sharpened it a bit :

To captain of

&

the word I thought was home but may be something else

I have also uploaded the higher resolution - brightened and sharpened version here (its 1.1 mb so I wont attach it here).

[Mark C]

I think it is "home" because the line over the "m" in home matches the line over the "m" in "Hamburg." A Cyrillic handwriter would place such a line over a Cyrillic small case "T", which happens to be the same shape as a Latin small case "m."

[Sergey W]

This document was signed by superintendant of 2nd Pacific Ocean squadron of fleet captain second rank Alexandr Gustavovich von-Witte lost in Tsushima battle.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Sergey W

[Sergey W]

IMHO Johannisberger was a German coal ship supplied 2nd Pacific Ocean squadron of fleet

[gerardkenny]

Thanks for that.