In the 1890s ‘The County Echo’ worried about the many women who were left in Dinas without a man to look after them, while their husbands were at sea. Should there be a village policeman to protect them?

Equally poignant, however, was the situation of the many fathers who were at sea because there was no work for them locally. They missed their homes and children and were reduced to expressing their love and concern through the occasional postcard.

SS Dowgate had been built in 1904 and by the time this message was written the sailors must have been using up an old supply of postcards, as it looks as if the ship had changed owner and been renamed  SS Seabank. By the time she was torpedoed in 1941 the ship was Greek and had been re-named SS Nicolaos Filinis. I wonder if they were still using the same stock of postcards then.