The problem is, the day and month for that postmark should be separated by a "/" not a bold "."  Also, I might be wrong, but the Fr26 depicted in the awesome pages from germanstamps.net also shows the star on the right is not level with the star on the left, and is noticeably closer to the U in Kiautshou than the U above it, whereas the right star on my stamp seems to be level with the left star and equidistant between the U's.  I can't find another Kiautshou postmark that matches it better, either because of the layout or the dates of usage, this one being July 27, 1912.

Thanks for looking!

Why did it take 11 days (30/11/03 - 10/12/03) to travel from Moschi to Tanga?

Why does this cover lack a cancellation from Hannover?

thanks - Jay

First problem is the date – the year is incomplete, but there's a piece of what might be the tail of the "3" in "13".  None of "0", "1", "2", or "4" would seem to fit that mark.  The pencil notation (which I also can't decipher, fist word possible "einz.") certainly seems to think it's "13".  

It was advertised as an "XL" postmark, but that can't be because on the HWAL cancels, "40" was written as "XXXX", not "XL".

The other obvious possibilities are "XI." and "XII.".  During that period, "XI." was used on Anna Woermann II, which didn't visit Kamerun, and the postage and text of the card indicate it was sent from Kamerun.  "XII." was lost when the Lulu Bohlen I was lost in 1903 and never replaced.

Anyone have any ideas?

This postcard was first cancelled with an Ost-Afrikanische Zweiglinie "I" postmark on 6 August 1899.  According to the ArGe catalog, this would have been the steamer Peters on the south-bound Zweigline, though research in this area is still ongoing.

The text of the postcard then indicates it was written while on board the steamer Reichstag while in Beira, Mozambique, on 7 August 1899, a day AFTER it was postmarked on the Zweiglinie.

The card then received postmarks from the Reichstag using the Hauptlinie "b" canceller on 8 August 1899.

Also, if I'm reading the rest of the text correctly, it states that "the postcards from Mozambique were sent via the Kaiser", and I assume that's a reference to other cards and not this one, since the Kaiser used the Hauptlinie "d" postmark at this time.

I'm just confused as to how the card received Zweiglinie postmarks the day before it was supposedly written while on board a different ship on the Hauptlinie – unless, of course, the sender hand carried it from one ship to the other, writing the text in between postmarks.