ShipStamps.co.uk

Built under yard no 392 by J.Brown & Co. Ltd., Glasgow for Huddart Parker Pty. Ltd., Melbourne.
20 Nov 1909 launched under the name ZEALANDIA.
Tonnage 6.660 gross 6.683 net. Dim. 125.1 x 16.7m.
Powered by a two quadruple expansion steam engines 1.157 nhp., speed 15 knots, twin screws.
Passenger accommodation for 200 first, 120 second and 126 third class passengers.

14 May 1910 she sailed from the Clyde for her maiden voyage to Australia, around the Cape of Good Hope. She made a call at Durban on 8 June and arrived at 25 June at Melbourne, Australia.
The intention when ordered was to put her in the Trans-Tasman service, but after arrival at Melbourne she was chartered to the Union Steamship Co., for their Canadian-Australasian Line service to Vancouver.

01 July 1910 she arrived at Sydney to prepare her for this service and she sailed on 1 August on her first voyage via Auckland, Suva and Honolulu to Vancouver.
She stayed on this service till the new NIAGARA arrived to take over.
19 March 1913 she sailed for the last time from Vancouver, arriving Sydney 12 April, after she was redelivered from her charter to her owners.

She was placed then in the Fremantle service, with her first sailing from Sydney on 23 April 1913.
She was the fastest passenger vessel on the coastal service to the west.

Requisitioned by the Australian Government in May 1918, and at Sydney converted in a troopship. Sailed from Sydney via the Panama Canal to New York, and from there carried American troops to Europe till the Armistices.
18 Nov. 1918 She sailed homeward bound from Liverpool with on board Australian troops, arriving Sydney on 10 Jan. 1919. Then she sailed to Bombay to embark British troops for England.
06 May 1919 sailed from Plymouth for her last trooping duty to Australia. Arrived at Sydney on 01 July.
Returned to owners after arrival, being reconditioned and repaired at the Cockatoo Dock.

Replaced again in the Sydney to Fremantle service, sailed for the first time from Sydney on 13 December 1919.
When in April 1927 an other ship of the company was wrecked she was placed in this service from Sydney to Hobart during the summer of 1927/28.
Returned to the Fremantle service in June 1928. The next summer season again in the Sydney Hobart service and in the winter in the Sydney to Fremantle service.
After September 1929 only used in the Sydney to Hobart service the next ten years.

June 1940 requisitioned for the Second World War and again converted in a troopship.
Sailed from Sydney on 29 June 1940 for Darwin with on board 800 troops and supply, the first of many voyages between these two ports.
During 1941 she carried troops and supply to New Guinea, and in Sept. made a voyage to Singapore.
Thereafter she came back and evacuated women and children from Darwin and brought this people to Sydney.
23 Dec. 1941 sailed from Sydney with a full cargo of supplies for Darwin, arrived at Darwin anchorage on 6 Feb. 1942. After arrival commenced discharging a slow process, the cargo was discharged in barges.
19 February still at anchor when Darwin was attacked by a Japanese air raid, and the ZEALANDIA came under attack of two Japanese planes. The first plane dropt a bomb that exploded in hold no 4, and the second plane dropt his bomb that fell through the engineroom skylight and set the vessel on fire. She was soon ablaze from stem to stern, more Japanese planes attacked the vessel with machinegun fire. The vessel was abandoned when she was sinking, from the 145 persons on board during the attack only 3 lost their live, but the ZEALANDIA sank on even keel that day only the mast tops were still showing above water.
1959 The wreck was refloated by a Japanese shipbreaking firm and scrapped.

New Caledonia 1981 29f sg 655

Register of Merchant Ships Completed in 1910. Passenger Ships of Australia & New Zealand Vol 1 by Peter Plowman.

Built in 1865 as a steel paddle steamer on the yard of Jones Quiggin at Liverpool for Richard Jones Egremond, at Chester.
Launched under the name MIDSLAND.
Tonnage 1.816 gross, 906 net., dim 83.54 x 10.09 x 9.78m., over the paddleboxen 19 m. draught 4.12 m.
Powered by 2 cyl. diagonal oscillation steam engine 1.600 ihp. Speed 13 knots. The engine was manufactured by J.Jack & Co. Liverpool.
The intention was to use the vessel in the service Holyhead-Dublin, but before she was completed the company run out of cash, and she was first laid up at the yard, later at Birkenhead.
01 Jan. 1872 Sold to Charles Lloyd Norman, London, not renamed.
21 May 1874 Sold to Peter Lindsay Henderson, London, renamed in SOUTHERN.
He would use her as a blockade-runner to Havana. But before sailing out she was arrested by the British Government. After a lengthy court battle she was released.
Then there were plans to use her across the Pacific from San Francisco to China due the high coal consumption of the vessel, the plan collapsed.
Oct. 1874 the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was founded and the company was looking for ships.
13 Jan. 1875 bought by this company and renamed in STAD MIDDELBURG (named after a town in the province Zeeland)
She was the first ship of the company and was bought for £ 18.000.
29 Jan. 1875 arrived at Amsterdam and refitted for the service between Vlissingen (Flushing) and England.
After her refit she got accommodation for 150 first and 50 second class passengers.
May 1875 sailed from Amsterdam for Vlissingen.
Used thereafter in the passenger service between Vlissingen and Sheerness, six times a week. Due to the high coal consumption and low passenger demand, the service was terminated in the autumn (14 Nov.) till the next spring when the new quay at Queenborough would be ready.
15 May 1876 Used in the night service between Vlissingen and Queenborough.
03 Oct. 1876 the company got the contract to transport the mail between the Netherlands and England.
1877 Company was restyled in Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland, Koninklijke Nederlandse Postvaart N.V.
1880 Refitted.
1881 Out of service, used as reserve vessel, renamed AURORA.
23 March 1889 sold, and the same year scrapped at Vlissingen.

Netherland 1975 35c sg 1214, scott 529

Source: Maritiem Jaarboek by de Boer. And some other publication on the com

Built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard 75 by Blohm & Voss at Hamburg for the Die Africanische Dampfschiffs A.G. (Woerman Line) Hamburg.
23 Oct. 1890 launched under the name EDUARD BOHLEN.
Tonnage 2.272 gross, 1.443 net, 2.795 dwt., dim. 94.7 x 11.6 x 6.9m. (draught).
One triple expansion steamengine 1.240 ihp., speed 10.5 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 32 first and 14-second class, crew 43.
28 Jan. 1891 delivered to owners.
.
After delivery used in the liner service of the Woerman Line from Hamburg to West Africa.
She was the first German steam vessel that carried the direct mail from Germany to Walvis Bay in 1891

20 Feb.1895 Adolph Woerman, and the African Steam Ship Co., together with the shipowner and shipping agent John Picard Best, from Antwerp, founded the Cie. Belge Maritime du Congo, at Antwerp, and the EDUARD BOHLEN was for a short period transferred to the new founded company, with homeport Antwerp, under Belgian flag, till she was replaced by the BRUXELLESVILLE.
Used in the monthly liner service between Belgium and the Congo. The other vessels in this service were COOMASSIE and LÉOPOLDVILLE.
06 March 1895 sailed for the first time from Belgium to the Congo.

1898 Transferred back to the Woerman Line K.G., Hamburg, again under German flag.

05 Sept. 1909, she approached Conception Bay to discharge stores and equipment for the diamond diggers on shore on a voyage from Swakopmund to the Table Bay loaded with general cargo.
During heavy fog grounded 100 meter from the beach on a sandbank.
Some cargo was discharged and the OTAVI tried to tow her from the beach but to no avail. The 30 passengers disembarked and were brought to Swakopmund.
During the next 10 days so much sand settled around the ship that during low tide the vessel could be reached by foot.
The vessel was later complete landlocked and used by nearby diamond miners as a hotel ship, the manager of the mine used the captains quarters.
The South African painter Keith Alexander made 13 paintings of the wreck, the Deutsche Africa Linien bought a few for their head office at Hamburg.
1987 She was still visible but only her frames are standing, a few hundred meters inland from the high water mark.

South West Africa 1987 40c sg 485.

Navicula No 146 page 2240. South African Philatelist Jan. 1987. Blauwe Wimpel 1987 page 174.
Register of Merchant Ships completed in 1891.

The Panama Republic issued a set of stamps in 1918 showing various views on the Panama Canal. On the highest value the l balboa, is a picture of the U.S. auxiliary collier Nereus (named after the sea god). Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Co., at a contract price of $990,000, her keel was laid on December 4. 1911, and she was first placed in commission at Norfolk. Va. on September 10, 1913. She was assigned to duty with the US. Atlantic Fleet, but was in reserve at Norfolk from June 29 to September 19, 1914, afterwards operating on the Atlantic, Pacific and Asiatic stations. When the United States entered the First World War the Nereus was at Hampton Roads. Va. After coaling vessels of the Atlantic Fleet in the Chesapeake Bay area, she made a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with coal for the Pacific Fleet, calling en route at the ports of Haiti and San Domingo to discharge marines. When the Naval Overseas transportation Service was organised in January 1918 she was one of the regular U.S. Navy vessels used by this service to carry coal and other supplies between naval stations and vessels of the fleet. In December 1918 the Nereus made a trip to Ponta Delgada, Azores with coal. In 1919 she sailed from Norfolk. Va for Brest with coal and then went to Cardiff, Wales, from which port she made several trips to France. She returned to Norfolk on September 12. 1919, and was assigned to duties with the Atlantic Fleet. She remained in this service until June 28 1922 when she was taken out of commission at the Norfolk Navy Yard. On February 23. 1940, she was placed on the list of naval vessels for sale, and was deleted from the Navy Register on December 5 of that year. With a displacement of 19,080 tons, she was 522ft overall x 62ft. x 2711, was armed with four 4in. guns, and had a complement of 16 officers, 12 chief petty officers and 152 ratings.
SG182 Sea Breezes 8/51

The 20 cents denomination shows the motor vessel Overijssel built at Dordrecht by Hoebee for Rotterdam owners, her dimensions being 104ft. x 21ft x 6ft. She is powered by a Berkel oil engine. Her speed is 14.5 knots, and she is used for cargo carrying on Holland’s inland waterways.
SG718 Sea Breezes 8/51

The cargo ship which has appeared on the stamps of Nauru since 1924, is the old Century of the Australian Steamships (Pty), Ltd. (Howard Smith Co.) She was built at Newcastle in 1905, a steel single-screw steamer with a. gross tonnage of 4,313 on dimensions 360ft x 47.9ft x 28ft.
SG26A

In 1952 Yugoslavia issued an attractive maritime set, of which the 10 dinars value is alleged to show the post-war motor liner Zagreb. If this is so, the stamp exaggerates the vessel’s size and is quite wrong as to her appearance for, according to “Lloyds Register,” she is only 3,100 gross tons on dimensions 317.8ft x 45.9ft. x 27.4ft and has her propelling machinery aft! She was built by Poduzece III Maj. at Rijeka.
SG668 Sea Breezes 8/51

The mine sweeper A.R.A. FOURNIER (M-5) was built by the shipyard of Sánchez & Co. in Buenos Aires Province for the Argentinean Navy.
05 August 1939 launched.
Tonnage 554 tons, dim. 59 x 7.30 x 3.50m, main draught 2.27m.
Powered by 2 M.A.N. diesels, 2.000 hp. Max. speed 16 knots, economic speed 12 knots. Bunker capacity 50 tons oil, range 3.000 miles at 10 knots.
Armament when built, 2 - 101mm guns, 2 - 20mm mg A.A. and 2 - 7.65mm mg A.A. equipped with mine cutting equipment (paravanes and trails.)
Crew 70.
13 October 1940 commissioned

After commission based at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base as a unit of the minesweeping squadron. Her first commander was Lieutenant Commander Ernesto del Marmol.
She was used in the Antarctic Campaign between 1942-43 which founded the Argentine Antarctic Base on Deception Island.
Operated mostly together with the Argentinean High Fleet.
Thereafter station ship at Ushuaia. Rescued during heavy storms the crew of the tug OLCO and the Chilean sail ship CONDOR.
June 1947 she arrived at the Argentinean Antarctic base Decepción. An again used in the Antarctic between March and May 1948.

1949 Under command of Captain Corbeta Carlos Negri used for patrolling the Tierra del Fuego channels and support vessel at the Naval base at Ushuaia, sometimes used for salvage work.
The same year sailed with two distinguished passengers through the Fuego channels, Dr Raúl Wernicke an physical and chemical researcher and at that time Dean of the faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary of the Buenos Aires University, and his son Julio, a medical student who went in search of exotic specimens of southern marine fauna. She arrived at 17 Sept. at the port of Rio Gallegos.
21 Sept. 1949 heaved in anchor at Ushuaia at 07.40 hour, steaming into the intricate Magellan Strait passing off Chilean territory then to return to Ushuaia. The same day at 16.30 hours she communicated by radiotelegraphy that she were passing the lighthouse of Punta Delgada situated in the ‘first narrows’ of Magellan Strait. During the night when she passed the lighthouse of San Isidro, the weather forecast was not good, wind from the northwest 8/9, with snow squalls and cloudy. Visibility from 2 till 4 km. With a temperature below 0 degree Celsius.
During the first hours of 22 Sept. contact was lost between the Naval base at Ushuaia and the FOURNIER. The next morning a ground and air search began, hindered by bad weather and fog.
The following vessels took part in the search, the transport SAN JULIÁN, the minesweeper SPIRO, the tugs CHIRIGUANO and SANAVIRON and the hydrographical vessel BAHIA BLANCA and the frigate SANTISIMA TRINIDAD.
Noting of the vessel of crew was found the first days and on 4 October the newspapers of Argentina announced on the front page that the FOURNIER was lost in a position 54 10 S and 71 W off Punta Cono on Dawson Island. Channels which have a depth of 450 till 530 meters surround the island. Dawson Island lies in the entrance of San Gabriel channel 60 miles to the south of Punta Arenas in Chile.
Most probably the FOURNIER sank after running against a rock which position was not indicated on the chart, which teared her hull open, after which the compartments flooded, or that she during the storm was hit by a wave which did capsized the vessel. At that time the FOURNIER carried 77 men. Not any surveyed and the vessel was lost. Some bodies were recovered from the water and transported to Buenos Aires by the frigate HEROINE.

A memorial service held by the Navy and the Argentinean Government for the recovered victims of the disaster was homage to all the crew and passengers lost in this tragic and mysterious accident. The loss of the FOURNIER was a national day of mourning.
Flowers and flower wreaths were offered in the River Plate, in the hope they would arrive at the distance Fueguinos channels.
79 Trees were planted which form the name FOURNIER, alongside the highway that goes to the airport of Ezeiza.

Argentine 1999 75c sg?, scott?

Source: From a web-site translated for my by Mr. Mario F.Rosner. Lost the URL.

A modem post-war steam trawler, the Ingolfur Arnarson, named after the first settler in Iceland (AD. 874), appears on 10 aurar and 1.50 krona stamps of Iceland. She is owned by the Reykjavik City authorities and is one of 32 of the same type built in England, another 10 being under construction when the stamp was issued. The vessels are 175ft long with gross tonnages varying between 600 and 700.
SG297,299,304,305. Sea Breezes 1/53

In 1935 Guatemala honoured the centenary of the birth of President Barrios with a set of stamps, the 10 cents air mail value showing the president’s portrait inset against a picture of Port Barrios with the Dutch cargo steamer Agamemnon alongside the wharf Owned by the Royal Netherlands Steamship Company, the vessel was built and engined by Dunlop, Bremner and Co., Ltd.. at Port Glasgow in 1914 and was 1,930 gross tons on dimensions 295.6ft. x 43.2f1 x 17.2ft.
SG291 Sea Breezes 8/51