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Isle of Man issued in 2007 an m.s. for the “Liverpool 800 years of trade with the Isle of Man”. In the margin of the stamp is depict a steamer, the name is partly readable as KING OR… with homeport Douglas.

The only KING ORRY is in the fleet of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co., she must be the vessel built in 1871 the only KING ORRY with two funnels. She appears for the first time on a stamp, and below is her history and details.

Built under yard No 56 as an iron paddle steamer by R. Duncan Co., Port Glasgow, Scotland for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
27 March 1871 launched under the name KING ORRY (2).
Tonnage 806 gross. Dim. 260 x 29.4 x 14.7ft.
Powered by 2-cyl simple oscillator steam engines 591 nhp., manufactured by Rankin and Blackmore speed 15 knots.
Accommodation for 1104 passengers, crew 47.
May 1871 completed, building cost £26.000.

Used in the passenger service between Liverpool and Douglas, Isle of Man.
1888 Lengthened by Fairfield & Co. with 30ft. and fitted out with new engines compound diagonal steamengines, manufactured by Westray, Copeland & Co. 4.000 ihp., and reboilered by J.Jones & Co., speed increased to 17 knots. Tonnage increased to 1.104 gross.

1895 Fitted out with electric lighting installation.

After 41 year of service was she broken up in 1912 in Llanerchymor.

Source: Wast Coast Steamers by Duckworth and Langmuir. Island Lifeline by Connery Chappell.

Built as a battleship under yard No. 838 by Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co. Ltd., Jarrow-on-Tyne for the Royal Navy.
29 November 1913 laid down.
14 January 1915 launched under the name HMS RESOLUTION (09) one of the Revence class. (She was the 16th ship in the Royal Navy that carried that name.)
Displacement 29.150 tons standard, 33.500 tons full load. Dim. 189 x 31 x 9.3m. (draught), length on w.l. 187m.
Powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, 40.000 shp, four shafts, speed 23 knots.
Bunker capacity 3.400 tons fuel oil and 160 tons coal.
Armament 8 – 15 inch, 12 – 6inch, 8 – 4 inch, 4 – 2drs. Guns, and 16 Bofors 40 mm guns.
Crew around 1100.
30 December 1916 commissioned. Building cost £2.449.680.

After commissioned joined the Grand Fleet in the 1st Battle Squadron till 1919.
From 1919 till 1926 in the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet.
From 1926 in 1st Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet.
Between 1930 and 1931 underwent a refit.
1936 In reserve.
From 1936 a unit of the Home Fleet in the 2nd Battle Squadron.

When the Second World broke out in September based at Plymouth for the defence of convoys again German surface ships in the SW Approaches.
October 1939 transferred to Halifax for the defence of the North Atlantic convoys between Canada and the U.K.
From February till March 1940 underwent a refit by the H.M Dockyard in Devonport.
After completing used with the Home Fleet for the military operations in Norway.
16 April hit starboard aft Y turret by a 250lbs amour piercing bomb during air attacks when at anchor off Tjeldsundet near Narvik.
18th April released from operations and returned to the U.K.
In June escorted and protected returning convoys after the evacuation of Norway.
Then again under repair.
26 June joined Force H based at Gibraltar.
2 July took part in the attack on the Vichy French warships at Mers-el-Kebir.
Then used for the protection of convoys to Malta.
September used to cover the landings of the Free France troops at Dakar in Operation Menace.
25 September hit by a torpedo from the Vichy French submarine BÉVÉZIERS on her port side in which she got major structural damage, she got some flooding and got a list of 15 degree, she had to withdraw from operations.
27 September taken in tow by the HMS BARHAM to Freetown, where temporary repairs were carried out before she returned to the U.K.
There was not any placed free in the U.K to be repaired and in March 1941 sailed to Philadelphia for repair on the US Navy Dockyard.
September 1941 undertook some trials after her repair before she sailed to the U.K.
November 1941 joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow for defence duty.

January 1942 transferred to the East India Station to join the 3rd Battle Squadron. She made the passage to the East India Station as escort in the Military Convoy WS15.
At Cape Town she left the convoy and headed to Colombo to join Force B.
After the loss of HMS CORNWALL and DORSETSHIRE was she transferred with Force B to Kilindini in Kenya for convoy defence till February 1943 along the East African coast.

Then used to protect military convoys to Australia from the Middle East.

April again used for protection of convoys in the Indian Ocean.
October 1943 withdraw from operational duty and returned to the U.K.
November after her return in the U.K. reduced to Reserve Status.
December fitted out for her roll as training vessel.
From January used as training vessel.
After WW II still in use as a training vessel for new entry ratings, she was also put on the Disposal List.
05 May 1948 sold to Metal Industries, and arrived at Faslane 13 May to be broken up.

Ascension SG464

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_(1915) and many web-sites more.

The Tiare Taporo has a gross tonnage of 173 and a net of 137 tons and was built by C. Bailey, Jnr. at Auckland, New Zealand. Her owners were A. B. Donald, Ltd. and she is registered at Suva. A wooden auxiliary schooner, her machinery, which is aft, consists of a 4-cylinder oil engine built by the Atlas Imperial Diesel Engine Company, of Oakland, California and giving a speed of 7 knots. The schooner’s dimensions are: length (overall) 90 ft., beam 23 4 in. and draft 7 ft.
Mr. A. B. Donald had the Tiare Taporo built by a master shipwright, Charles Bayley, Jr., of Auckland, who was considered one of the foremost shipbuilders in New Zealand. She was built of the very best Kauri, her frames were natural bent Pohutkava and her deck beams and main hatch coaming were Iron.
She has a beautiful Kauri stick for a bowsprit, but her main, fore and topmasts are Oregon pine.
Launched in 1913 she was christened Tiare Taporo (the Lime Flower). You’ll see in the photograph she carries Donald’s house-flag, which has a red border, white centre and blue lettering A B D L. On the main she is flying the French ensign, which is natural, as she was built for trading in French Oceania; that is, for trading in the Society, Tuamotu and the Marquesa group. She is fitted out with a trade room, a master’s cabin, a main cabin seating eight at the table, with two bunks on each side. The main cabin is light and airy with a large skylight running nearly the length of the cabin: there is also a cabin for the mate. She was captained at the time by Capt. Joe Winchester, an Englishman who had arrived in Tahiti as a young man, married there and became a French citizen. The Tiare Taporo made a record run from Auckland to Tahiti in 11 days and 7 hours.
In the latter part of the First World War, the Donalds withdrew the Tiare Taporo from Tahiti and had her running to San Francisco from the Cook Islands with copra, returning to Auckland with petrol. She was under the British flag on that run. During 1919 she was permanently stationed in the Cook Islands, doing an annual trip to Tahiti for repairs and overhaul. She also did a few trips to Auckland during that time, owing to the Tahiti slip not being available. This routine was kept up until 1949 when she was again transferred to Tahiti and put under the French flag going back to her old run to the Marquesas and the Tuamotus, out of Papeete.
When old man Donald started his business in Tahiti, the Royal Navy obtained its lime juice from St. Vincent and St. Lucia in the British West Indies. Both these islands were struck by one of those hurricanes that blows islands off the map. The lime crop was destroyed and Donald obtained the contract for supplying the Navy with lime juice. As a result of the great quantities of limes he bought, he became known among Tahitians as the ‘Lime Man’—in Tahitian `Taporo Tane’.
The Tahitians have a way of naming their vessels with the prefix ‘flower’, in Tahitian `Tiare’, It is said that Donald was almost beating his brains out trying to find a suitable name for his new schooner, but one day he had it. He stormed into his office in Auckland and shouted, ‘The new boat will be called Tiare Taporo.’ I always like to think that Donald’s sudden inspiration was brought on sharply after he had been indulging in a couple of rum punches, flavoured by Tahiti limes—he was that sort of person.
SG173 Sea Breezes 9/63, 11/63, 10/64 Photo of vessel supplied by Joy (Australia)

The USA stamps issued in 2007 feature photographs of speedboats made by four major manufacturers.
A 1915 Hutchinson Brother launch, the FROLIC
A 1931 Gar Wood triple cockpit runabout, the DISPATCH
A 1939 Hacker Craft, the THUNDERBIRD
A 1954 Chris-Craft, racing runabout, the DUCKERS.

The four objects on the sheet of 12 stamps showcase the polished mahogany and gleaming chrome hardware that characterize the nation‘s historic wooden motorboats. Built by four different manufactures, each vintage watercraft is still in use today.

MISS COLUMBIA:

The selvage – or decorative area around the stamps – features a recent photograph of MISS COLUMBIA by Benjamin Mendlowitz of Brooklin, ME.
The boat designed by Mark Mason and built by craftsman of the New England Boat & Motor Co., of Laconia, NH, is a modern re-creation of the original MISS COLUMBIA, designed by George F. Crouch and built in 1924.

Robert Devene of Green Cove Springs, Fl, purchased the replica from original owner Phillip Sharples of Tubac, AZ, and berths her for the summer on the Muskoka Lakes of Ontario, Canada.

Carl T. Herman of Carlsbad CA, photographed the boats on the stamps and designed the stamp sheet.

FROLIC.

A popular style for touring and commuting, the long-decked launch was offered with a four- or six-cylinder marine engine capable of reaching 30 mph.
A 110-horsepower, six-cylinder Chrysler Crown engine, powered the attractive 30-foot craft.
On the stamp the craft was custom-built in 1915 by Hutchinson Brothers Boat Co., Alexandria Bay, NY.
Frolic owners Bill and Tish Kartozian of Danville, CA, dock her on Lake Tahoe.

THUNDERBIRD:

Based on the streamlined designs of John Hacker, THUNDERBIRD is a 55-foot commuter boat featuring a distinctive stainless-steel cabin top that was built for millionaire George Whittell, who was fascinated when the latest aircraft, automobile and boat technology.
Enamoured with the lines of his personal DC-2 airplane, Whittell requested THUNDERBIRD’s hull and cockpit be built to resemble the fuselage of his twin-engine aircraft.
THUNDERBIRD was built in 1939 by the Huskins Boat Co. of Bay City, MI, THUNDERBIRD’s original twin 550 horsepower Kermath engines were replaced in the 1960s with twin 1.000 horsepower Allison V-12 aircraft engines. The Hacker craft is owned by Foundation 36; a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting Nevada’s natural, cultural and historic treasures, and is berthed in Whittell’s original 1940 boathouse built for the THUNDERBIRD.

The boathouse is connected to the main house by a 600-foot tunnel that was blasted through granite at the Thunderbird Lodge Historic Site on Lake Tahoe.

http://www.thunderbirdlodge.org/theboat.html

DUCKERS:

A steady seller since 1936, the Racing Runabout exemplified Chris-Craft speed and design through 1954. Updated after World War II, the 19 foot model features a split cockpit and gleaming deck hardware. With its 158 horse-power MBL engine, this craft can exceed 40 mph.

Chris-Craft runabouts remain a popular model among classic boaters who enjoy their sporty performance. DUCKERS, built in 1954 in Cadillac MI, has a 158 horsepower, sic-cylinder Chris-Craft Hercules engine. She is owned by William and Nancy Kehoe of Loomis CA, who boat with her on Lake Tahoe and the Sacramento Delta.

On USA 2007 41c sg?

Source: copied from http://www.forademo.com/blog/2007/09/how_to_own_a_fleet_of_4_boats.html

10 September 1928 keel laid down of a heavy-cruiser on the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California for the USS Navy.
10 April 1930 launched under the name USS CHICAGO (CA-29), the second ship in the USS navy to be named after the city Chicago. Sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Britten, a sister of a Congressman of Illinois. One of the Northampton class.
Displacement 9.300 tons standard, 12.350 tons full load, dim. 182.97 x 20.14 x 5.12m. (draught), length bpp. 177.4m.
Powered by four Parsons geared turbines, 107.000 shp. four shafts, speed 32.5 knots.
Range by 15 knots 13.000 mile.
Armament: 9 – 8 inch, 4 – 5 inch guns and 8 – 12.7mm AA guns. 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes.
Crew 621, during war around 800 men.
Carried four floating planes, two catapults.
09 March 1931 commissioned, under command of Captain M. H. Simons.

April 1931 left and made first a shakedown cruise to Honolulu, Tahiti and American Samoa.
27 July 1931 she left Mare Island for the East Coast, arriving at Fort Ponds Bay, N.Y. on 15 August.
There she became flagship of Commander Cruiser, Scouting Four, and operated with that force until 1940.

In February 1932 CHICAGO in company with other ships of the Scouting Four, conducted gunnery exercises preliminary to the annual fleet problem off the California coast. The fleet was based on the west coast thereafter and, until 1934, operated in the Pacific, from Alaska to the Canal Zone and the Hawaii Islands. In 1934 the annual fleet exercises were held in the Caribbean, followed in May 1934 by the Presidential Fleet Review in New York Harbor. The Scouting Force operated along the east coast and the Caribbean until October 1934 and then returned to base at San Pedro, Calif.
CHICAGO continued to operate out of San Pedro until 29 September 1940 when she sailed to Pearl Harbor.

During the next 14 months, the heavy cruiser operated out of Pearl Harbor, exercising with various task forces to develop tactics and cruising formations, and cruising to Australia and to the west coast.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 07 December 1941, CHICAGO was at sea with TF 12 and the Force immediately began a 5 day sweep in the Oahu-Johnston-Palmyra triangle in an effort to intercept the enemy. The Force returned to Pearl Harbor 12 December; between 14 and 27 December CHICAGO operated with TF 11 on patrol and search mission.

On 02 February 1942 CHCAGO departed Pearl Harbor for Suva Bay where she joined the newly formed Allied naval force. During March and April the heavy cruiser operated off the Louisiade Archipelago, covering the attacks on Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea. In a position to intercept enemy surface units which attempted to attack Port Moresby, CHICAGO also provided cover for the arrival of American troops on New Caledonia.

On 1 May 1942 CHICAGO was ordered from Noumea to join Commander, Southwest Pacific and on the 4th she supported YORKTOWN (CV-%) in her strike against the Japanese on Tulagi, Solomon Islands. On 7 May she proceeded, with the Support Group, to intercept and attack the Japanese Port Moresby invasion group. The following day the group underwent several Japanese air attacks, during which CHICAGO suffered several casualties from strafing, but drove off the planes and proceeded ahead until it was clear that the Japanese force had turned back.

On the night of 31 May/1 June 1942 while in port in Sydney harbour, Australia, the CHICAGO fired on an attacking Japanese midget submarine. On this night, three Japanese midget submarines attempted to enter Sydney Harbour. One of the subs became entangled in an Anti-submarine boom net. The other two submarines made it trough, one of which was disabled by depth charges, the other managed to fire two torpedoes at CHICAGO. One torpedo passed near CHICAGO and destroyed another vessel nearby whilst the second torpedo failing to detonate skidded ashore onto Garden Island. The primary mission for the crew on board the Japanese midget submarines was to sink the USS CHICAGO. They were unsuccessful.

During June and July 1942 CHICAGO continued to operate in the Southwest Pacific. Between 7 and 9 August, she supported the initial landings on Guadalcanal and others of the Solomon Islands, beginning America’s powerful counteroffensive from the sea that was to crush Japan. On 9 August she engaged in the Battle of Savo Island. Hit by a Japanese destroyer torpedo, Chicago fought damage while continuing to engage until contact with the enemy was lost. CHICAGO was repaired at Noumea, Sydney and San Francisco, where she arrived on 13 October.

Early in January 1943, CHICAGO departed San Francisco after her repair, action-bound once more. On 27 January she sailed from Noumea to escort a Guadalcanal convoy. On the night of the 29th, as the ships approached to that bitterly contested island, Japanese aircraft attacked the force and the Battle of Rennell was underway. During the attacks two burning Japanese planes silhouetted CHICAGO providing light for torpedo attacks; two hits caused severe flooding, and loss of power. By the time the attack ended fine work on board had checked CHICAGO’s list.
LOUISVILLE ()CA-28) took the disabled ship in tow and was relieved by a tug the following morning. During the afternoon the Japanese attacked again and despite heavy losses, managed to hit the disabled cruiser with four more torpedoes which sank her on 30 January 1943 in a position of 11 25S and 160 56E. with the loss of 6 officers and 56 men.

On Fiji 2005 83c sg?

Sources: mostly copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chicago_(CA-29) The Encyclopedia of Warships.
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c7/chcago-ii.htm

Sovereign of the Seas was the largest, most expensive, most heavily armed, most richly decorated and most feared vessel of her day. Ordered by Charles I, she was built to the designs of Phineas Pett, the great English shipwright of the period. Costing £65,586 16s. 9d., the ship was launched by the King himself at Woolwich in 1637, and of the total cost, £6,700 went on gilding and decoration. This work was performed by the Royal master-carver, Gerard Christmas, his sons and assistants, after drawings by Van Dyck.
The vessel’s figurehead represented Edward the Peaceful riding down seven enemy kings. The remainder of the beak was covered with carvings of Henry VIPs greyhounds and heraldic arms, while figures, beasts, angels, cherubs, musical instruments, Roman emperors, goddesses, a variety of weapons, flowers, helmets, cuirasses and signs of the Zodiac were lavishly carved wherever space could be found and heavily gilded. It is hardly surprising that the unwilling public, faced with the heartily-detested “Ship-Money Tax” imposed by Charles I, thought that the carving and gilding of the Sovereign of the Seas was too expensive.
Measuring 128 ft. on the keel, 167 ft. overall and having a maximum width of 48 ft., she was only the second three-decker to be built for the Royal Navy and carried 102 brass guns. Her rigging was a departure from the older four-masted type, but her mizzen mast was much larger to compensate. On this mizzen she carried a square topsail and topgallant sail.
In 1652 Cromwell had the vessel cut down to a two-decker, as she lay so deep that it was nearly impossible to use the lowest batteries when the vessel heeled over. The ship proved to be a much better fighting unit after this improvement to her draft, which had been 28′/2 ft. She was renamed Sovereign and although Cromwell had ordered that all ships of the Navy had to be painted a “sad” colour and the gilding covered, an exception was made in the case of the Sovereign, which was allowed to retain her sparkle.
At the restoration in 1660 she was renamed Royal Sovereign, the second of the name, a previous namesake having been built in the reign of Henry VII and serving in the French Wars of 1512. The Royal Sovereign took part in the various wars against the Dutch from 1666 to1673 and fought with distinction in the battles of St. James’ Day, the Texel and Schoonveldt. The Dutch named her the “Golden Devil “, a tribute to her fighting merit as well as to her appearance. At one period she was the flagship of the famous Prince Rupert. In 1692 she was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Ralph Delavel of the Red, when she took part in an action against the French Fleet under Admiral Tourville, off Barfleur. The French were forced to abandon the action and retreat to their home base.
The Royal Sovereign was sent to the Medway for rebuilding in 1696 and through the carelessness of “ship keepers” (watchmen) a lighted candle overturned, setting fire to the vessel, which quickly became a burned out wreck.
San Marino SG 697 Sea Breezes 4/63

A number of the emergent nations have issued new postage stamps depicting ships, but not all of these are identifiable vessels. One of the exceptions to this anonymity is the small tanker Gasikara which appears on the 15 F stamp of a new set showing the “Industralisation of Madagascar”. The stamp shows the vessel, which was built at Diego Suarez, ready for her maiden voyage with crowds of sightseers along the quay.
SG51 Sea Breezes 9/63

To commemorate Navy Day, 1961, a single stamp was issued by the U.A.R. depicting the national flag above a ship’s wheel, from the centre of which a warship is emerging. The warship appears to be the former Russian “Skoryi” class destroyer Al Nasser or Al Zaffer, although the artist has been rather free with the delineation of his subject.
SG668 Sea Breezes 2/63

This U.A.R. (Egypt) stamp is a 10m. denomination depicting various branches of industry and bearing the dates “1952-1962″. On the left hand side of the design is a vessel which has the name Canal el Suez in Arabic characters on her port bow. The Canal el Suez was built by the Suez Canal Authority at their new shipyard at Port Fuad, on the eastern side of the canal opposite Port Said, and was the first modern sea-going ship to be built in Egypt by Arab craftsmen and engineers. Her design however is unquestionably of German origin and her machinery and much of her navigational equipment is also German.
At a ceremony held on board when the ship was completed, President Gamal Abdel Nasser attended, hoisting the U.A.R. flag and formally handing over the vessel to the United Arab Maritime Company. The President also presented to the ship a specially bound copy of the Koran, which is the pride of the ship’s company.
Principal particulars of the Canal el Suez are:—length overall, 258 ft. 6 in., extreme breadth, 42 ft. 4 in., summer draft, 21 ft. 6 in., gross tonnage 1,983 and net tonnage 1,263. She has two holds with `tween decks and her propelling machinery, navigating bridge and crew accommodation are situated aft. The machinery consists of a single direct-reversing 7-cylinder, 4-stroke M.A.N. oil engine with exhaust blower and Wulful hydraulic gear. The engine develops 1,470 b.h.p. and gives a service speed of 12 knots. On her official trials in the Mediterranean she attained a maximum speed of 13.4 knots and she is operating on a service from Port Said, Alexandria and other Mediterranean ports to the United Kingdom.
SG? Sea Breezes 2/63

Two ships of the United Arab Maritime Company, the state shipping organisation of the United Arab Republic, have been featured on stamps of the republic. The first of these was issued in 1959 and is one of a set of six stamps commemorating the seventh anniversary of the revolution. It depicts “seaways” and shows the flagship of the United Arab Maritime Company, the cargo motorship Al Mokattam, carrying a deck cargo of railway coaches.
The ship was built in Yugoslavia by the Brodogradiliste Uljanik, Pula, for the Societe Generale pour la Navigation (U.A.R.) Maritime. She has an overall length of 480 ft., an extreme breadth of 60 ft. and has a gross tonnage of 6,212. Deadweight capacity is 10,050 tons and a B. and W. oil engine drives her single screw to give a service speed of 13 knots. I am informed by an Arab officer who served in the Al Mokattam that the stamp shows the ship in her old colours. These have since been altered to conform to those of the United Arab Maritime Company, a plain blue funnel bearing the state emblem, an eagle and shield. SG597 Sea Breezes 2/63