Straits Settlements Cancelled Hong Kong?

Can anyone help to understand why this stamp of the Straits Settlements (1883, Scott #45) is cancelled Hong Kong?

Security Hand stamp in Violet G & Co (Commercial Overprint) Gilman & Company
(Agents for Maritime Insurance companies situated in Hong Kong)

Perhaps an arrival marking Commercial papers to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp, cancelled in transit.?

Thank you, Rod, for sharing your knowledge. Great explanation.
Eric

You're welcom Eric,
Helping also helps the helper.
https://gwulo.com/atom/12716

Could it not also be a Paquebot cancel?

I have quite a few HK stamps cancelled in Singapore, and that's what I figured they might be.

That's a keeper! :)

Paquebot seems like a good idea. My bit of research online turns up examples that look a lot like the one above. There would have been a handstamp elsewhere on the cover to indicate that this item was posted on ship in transit. The DTS would be that of the port of entry. See http://paquebot.info/?s=Hong+Kong&lang=en

Here's a nice example:

I have one

Stamps of one issuing entity being postmarked in another entity is a common practice in the general area in and near Hong Kong.

I have Macau stamps that were cancelled in Hong Kong and Canton (China). Also have Victorian Hong Kong stamps cancelled in Shanghai, Yokohama, and similar, long before Hong Kong stamps were overprinted China.

Yang's catalogue of HK stamps and postal history makes no special mention of this particular combination; it is touched on generally as 'arrival markings.'

The best explanation I have found is from "The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports of China and Japan" by F.W. Webb on page 338.

Summarizing this page, there are three types:

Ship Markings
Paquebot Markings
Arrival Markings

"Ship markings" loosely covers all markings connected with ships, for example, "Posted at Sea" markings.

Paquebot markings were not applied on board ships. They were the cancellations used at ports throughout the world under arrangement with the Universal Postal Union to frank correspondence received from seagoing ships. The word itself was chosen for international use because French was the official language used at UPU Congress meetings. Great Britain was the first to introduce these markings in 1894, and from 1897 onwards, they were in general use worldwide.

Arrival markings resulted when the letter was cancelled at the ship's port of arrival. Many of these letters were put on board ship at the last minute after the official mail bags had been closed at departure, while others were written on board and franked with stamps in possession of the writer or purchased on board ship. Many of these cancels are pre-paquebot markings.

Linus

Great info. From now on I'll keep a better eye out for cancellations of this sort.