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At the outbreak of the Second World War the Bremen was on her way back from New York to Bremerhaven when she received orders to go to Murmansk to avoid contact with the enemy. She reached that port on September 7, 1939, and after a stay of over two months, it was decided to take the ship back to Bremerhaven, which she reached safely on December 14, 1939. The ship remained there for two years with out being used. On the night of March 16-17, 1941, the Bremen caught fire and was completely burned out. She had crossed the Atlantic 187 times altogether, her best passage being 4 days, 17 hours, 24 minutes from New York to Cherbourg.Germany SG1821

To commemorate the opening of the International Transport Exhibition at Munich on June 25, 1965, a set of six stamps was issued depicting various forms of transport, the 70 pf. stamp showing the passenger liner Bremen and the Hammonia of a century ago. The Bremen is the fifth ship of the name and was completed in 1939 for the Cie. de Navigation Sud Atlantique as the Pasteur; under the latter name she is depicted on a French stamp issued in 1941.
Her maiden voyage from Bordeaux to the River Plate was scheduled for September 1939, but war broke out and the voyage was cancelled. In June 1940 she sailed from Brest to Halifax, N.S. and was subsequently taken over by the British Ministry of War Transport, her management being placed in the hands of Cunard White Star, Ltd. As a troopship, she carried some 220,000 servicemen during the war and after returning to the French Flag in June 1945 she continued to act in that capacity, carrying French troops to Indo-China. Her work was recognised by the French Government in 1948, when the Croix de Guerre was conferred upon the ship.
Laid-up at Brest in January 1957, the Pasteur was bought in September of that year by the Norddeutscher Lloyd and was sent to Bremerhaven for an extensive refit. She commenced North Atlantic service between Bremen and New York, with calls at Southampton and Cherbourg, in July 1959. Originally her gross tonnage was 29,523, but considerable alterations and modifications brought this figure up to 32,336 by the time she was ready for service with her new owners.(Info E Argyle SB 11/65) Germany- SG1395

Tanker built 1959 Howaldtswerke, Kiel for Shell Tankers UK. 12321 Gt. L560′. B69′5″. Dr38′8′. 2 steam turbines. 7500shp. 15kn - Netherland Antilles SG462 (LB 1/105. 12/12. EWA Vol 7. p56. SB Nov 1965)

Passenger ship built 1901 Harland & Wolff, Belfast for White Star Line. 12345gt 7826nt. L500’3”. B50’. Dr26’2”. Quad engines 8cyl. 2 screws. 641nhp. 4 masts. Maiden voyage 14 Feb 1902. Sold to Hval. Pelagus A/S, Norway. Converted to Whale Fac. by Smiths Docks, N. Shields. Renamed PELAGUS. Broken up 1962 River Elbe -Pitcairn Is 1975. c. SG159 (LB 6/118-121. 14/127) (SSS Ency)

The Cilicia was built for the Anchor Line in 1938 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd., Glasgow; A vessel of 11,172 gross tons (10,287 tons deadweight), her twin screws driven by two 4-cylinder Doxford oil engines developing 10,200 b.h.p. give her a speed of 16.25 knots. She has accommodation for 300 first-class passengers and has a crew of 233.
Taken over by the Admiralty on August 31, 1939, the Cilicia served for 41 years as an armed merchant cruiser. Then in March 1944 she was taken in hand at Mobile for conversion to a troopship, work which was completed in the following September.
On March 25, 1941, while on patrol in the Atlantic, the Cilicia received a radio message from another Anchor Line ship, the Britannia, reporting that she was being attacked by a surface raider. The surgeon in the Cilicia was Dr. Thomas Miller, whose daughter was surgeon in the Britannia. As no further signal was received it was clear that the raider’s attack had been successful.
Three days later the Cilicia sighted a small steamer at 6.25 a.m. and at 7.15 a.m. sent away a boarding party to investigate her. She proved to be the Spanish steamer Bachi, and a signal came from the boarding officer that she had picked up survivors from the Britannia. By 9.30 am. they were alongside the Cilicia and first to reach the deck was Dr. Nancy Miller, to be greeted by an overjoyed father. The survivors were landed at Freetown and Dr. Nancy Miller received the M.B.E. in 1942 and Lloyd’s Medal in 1943 for her services in attending the passengers and crew of the Britannia during the shelling and sinking of the vessel by a German raider.
During her service as an armed merchant cruiser, the Cilicia was in collision with the Cunard liner Carinthia, also serving in the same capacity. The Carinthia cut into the Cilicia almost to her centreline in way of No. 2 hold and left her jackstaff on board. But for the fact that the Cilicia, like all armed merchant cruisers, carried a large number of empty drums in her holds for buoyancy purposes she would probably not have been able to make her way back to Belfast. From the position of the collision she left behind a continuous trail of empty drums.
The jackstaff belonging to the Carinthia was retained on board the Cilicia and in fact decorated the ante-room of the wardroom through her service as an A.M.C.
H.M.S. Cilicia is commemorated on the stamp for her duties in connection with the establishment of “H.M.S. Atlantic Isle “, as the meteorological station on Tristan da Cunha was called. Tristan Island is in fact the top of a symmetrical volcanic cone rising to 6,760 ft. above sea level. The meteorological station is established at Edinburgh Settlement, on a small ledge 4′/2 miles long and half a mile wide.
After plans had been formulated for the station, matters were complicated by the Admiralty instruction that wives and families of naval personnel should accompany their husbands and that all members of the party should be most carefully selected. “Job 9″ as the operation was called, was some job. It meant the transportation and erection of a township, complete in every respect from babies’ napkins to a village pump, together with food supplies, bathrooms, wash-houses, sanitation and a telephone system. The meteorological station itself was only part of the huge task.
In all over 2,000 tons of cargo, exclusive of livestock, was transported from Cape Town to Tristan. As ships could not approach the shore closer than half a mile, everything had to be landed in ships boats on an open beach and in heavy surf. With the possibility of enemy interference always present, the work of discharging cargo was a long and hazardous undertaking for the A.M.C.s allocated to the task. An idea of the weather conditions prevailing can be gained from the fact that when H.M.S. Cilicia discharged the second and main batch of cargo she spent five weeks at the island, during which time only seven days were favourable for landing.
The Cilicia arrived at Tristan da Cunha on May 9, 1942 and landed 1,426 tons of cargo in her own boats in 71/2 working days. She left on June 9, 1942. In 1943 “Job 9″ was commissioned as “H.M.S. Atlantic Isle “, tender to H.M.S. Afrikander.As a troopship the Cilicia made her first voyage from Liverpool on December 16, 1944, when she carried 2,400 troops to Port Said. A similar voyage to Mediterranean ports followed. By the end of hostilities she had made four trooping voyages and had carried a total of 16,035 troops and prisoners-of-war. On completion of her service as a troopship, she returned to the Fairfield yard and was refitted for her normal service as a passenger vessel. Info E Argyle SB3/65 SG77

H.M.S. Galatea featured on the 4′/2d. stamp was a frigate built at Woolwich and launched in 1859. Under the command of Capt. Rochfort Maguire, she was employed in the Baltic and on the Mediterranean and West Indies stations; on the latter station she assisted in suppressing the insurrection in Jamaica and destroyed the batteries on Cape Haitien.
On January 24, 1867, H.M.S. Galatea was commissioned by Capt. H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, K.G. She sailed from Woolwich on February 18, 1867 for Plymouth Sound, where she completed storing for a world cruise, commencing the voyage on February 26 and completing it at Spithead at noon on June 14, 1868. A call was made at Tristan da Cunha on August 5, the warship arriving there just after daylight and sailing again at 4 p.m. The settlers stated that they did not have a name for the little village and requested permission to call it Edinburgh after the title of His Royal Highness. This permission was readily granted and the settlement has henceforth been called Edinburgh.
H.M.S. Galatea had the following dimensions: length overall, 317 ft., beam, 50 ft., deepest draft, 22 ft. 7 ins. and tonnage 3,227. Her horse power was 800 and speed on trials 13 knots, her bunker capacity being 700 tons of coal. (Info E Argyle SB 4/65)SG76

A famous Confederate raider of a century ago, the Shenandoah, is depicted on a 3d. Tristan da Cunha stamp. She was the first composite screw steamer and was specially built to challenge the fastest ships then engaged in the annual “tea race” from China to Britain. This full-rigged, auxiliary screw vessel of 1,152 tons was ordered by Robertson and Co., a Glasgow firm, from the Kelvinhaugh yard of Alexander Stephen and Sons in 1863. She was launched on August 18 as the Sea King and on trials achieved 11 knots, her 200 h.p. engines having been built by A. and J. Inglis.
During her fitting-out she attracted the attention of agents of the Federal Government of America, but before they could acquire her she was chartered by the British Government to carry troops to New Zealand, where the Maoris were in conflict with the British authorities. After disembarking the troops she sailed for Chinese waters to take up the normal service of her owners. When she sailed for home, a Confederate agent was a passenger on board, and on arrival he completed arrangements for the Sea King to be transferred to the Confederate States of America.
After the discharge of cargo had been completed, an ample supply of coal was taken on board for an ostensible voyage to Bombay, and the vessel sailed without arousing the suspicions of the British authori¬ties. Under a new master she headed for Madeira, where she was to take on supplies from another vessel, the Laurel, which had sailed from Liverpool to meet her. On October 18 she was handed over at Madeira to a Confederate officer and was armed and made ready for her new role, under the name of Shenandoah.
As can be seen from the stamp design, there was nothing about the Shenandoah to arouse suspicions as to the nature of her business. She presented the appearance of a smart, trimly-set vessel and for her new purpose she needed no disguise. At Madeira she had to take on a new crew, as the original ship’s company were mostly unwilling to become commerce raiders in the American Civil War.
The new crew was composed of men of almost all the European countries and no fewer than 14 languages were spoken on board. The officers were all Americans from the Southern States, and under Lieut. F. J. Waddell, the Shenandoah operated until six months after the war was over, destroying ships of the Northern States wherever they were encountered.
Waddell only learned of the end of the war from a newspaper account of Lincoln’s assassination. He decided to run his ship into a European port, and set course for Liverpool. On arrival he surrendered his command to the port’s naval guard ship; the crew were held on board for two days and then unconditionally released. Eventually the Shenandoah was handed over to the American Consul.
During her Confederate career the Shenandoah practically destroyed the American whaling and sealing fleet. Her armament consisted of four 8 in. smooth bore guns, two 32-pounder Whitworth rifled guns and she also carried two 12-pounder signal guns, which were part of her equipment as a merchant ship.(Info E Argyle SB 4/65) Tristan SG75

On April 5 1965, India released a 15 naye Paisa stamp commemorating National Maritime Day. This is the first time India has issued a special stamp for this occasion and I anticipate it is to be a national annual issue. The design depicts the steamship Jalausha, with Visakhpatnam in the background. I think there is a special significance in this design for it is an “All-Indian” occasion. The Jalausha is not the oldest ship in her owners’ fleet, neither has she any noteworthy merits or special features. India has certainly much larger and more modern vessels, and I assume that some of these will appear on future stamp issues for India’s National Maritime Day.
The reason, I believe, that the Jalausha appears on this first issue is that she was the first vessel to be built in India for the Scindia Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., of Bombay, India’s largest shipping company. The Jalausha was built in the Scindia Company’s yard at Visakhapatnam in October 1948, and the stamp design shows the steamer leaving the port in ballast and dressed overall. My guess is that she is on her way for trials or for taking over. Certainly it is a most appropriate design for the stamp occasion.
The Jalausha has a gross tonnage of 5,102 tons, her net tonnage is 3,015, with a deadweight of 8,050 tons, She has an overall length of 415 ft. 8 in., a breadth of 52 ft., and depth of 27 ft. 9 in., with a draft of 24 ft. 10 in. Her cargo capacity is 421,822 cu. ft. of grain, 389,297 cu. ft. bale. The vessel’s engines were built by J. G Kincaid, of Greenock, who also supplied the engines for the other six similar ships of the Jalausha type, built between 1949 and 1952 by the Scindia S. N. Co., Ltd., and the Hindustan Shipyard, Ltd., at Visakhapatnam. These vessels have a speed of 11 knots.- India SG 498 (Info E Argyle SB 8/65)

One of the modern vessels of the Flota Mambisa, the Oriente, is a motorship built by the Niigata Tekkosho, at Niigata, Japan, in 1959 and engined by the same yard, She has a gross tonnage of 2,333, net tonnage 1,205, and deadweight 3,181. The vessel is designed for heavy lift duties, her machinery being placed aft.SG1126

The Bahia de Siguanea was built by McCluskey and Company, at Tampa, Florida, in 1945 and appears to be one of that very large class of American-built N3 type steamers known affectionately as “Jeeps”. She was launched as the Northern Stalker for the United States War Shipping Administration, later becoming the B. A. Follansbee. Purchased in 1947 by the Companhia de Navegacao, of Lisbon, she was renamed Quionga. Her present name was given her in 1956 when the Flota Mambisa bought her from the Portuguese company, She has a gross tonnage of 1,906 and a net of 1,063, while her deadweight is 2,740 tons. SG1125