SHIP STAMP SOCIETY

Interested in Ships and Stamps? The Ship Stamp Society is an international society and publishes it’s journal, Log Book, six time a year.
Other benefits include the availability of a "Packet" for anyone who wants to purchase or sell ship stamps.
Full membership of £17 (UK only) includes receiving Log Book by post, but there is an online membership costing just £12pa.
Full details can be found on our web site at http://www.shipstampsociety.com where you can also join and pay your chosen subscription through Paypal or by cheque.
A free sample of Log Book is available on request.

Built for the Wallis & Futuna Government to be used as a wooden hulled passenger ship between the islands. She was built by Chantier France-Gironde at Bordeaux, France.
Launched as the REINE AMELIA, Vedette.
Tonnage 97 grt, 44 net, dim. 25 x 5.1 x 2.2m. (draught).
Powered by two Gardner diesel engines, 344 hp.
1964 Completed.

After arrival in Wallis & Futuna used in the government service between the islands of Wallis & Futuna, but she was found inadequate for the service.
1966 Was she transferred to Noumea, New Caledonia and refitted for use as a training vessel for apprentices
01/02 February 1969 was she badly damaged by cyclone Colleen and her anchorage destroyed.
June 1969 sold to Robert Vanhalle, a local fisherman in Noumea, renamed in COLLEEN in honour of the cyclone and used as a fishing boat, registered in Noumea.
Fate unknown.
Wallis & Futuna 1965 11fr sg186, scott?
Source: Log Book 5/62-110, 12/64-164 and 14/269.

Lost Illusions (Les Illusions Perdues) is a painting by Charles Gleyre and his student Leon Dussart, commissioned by William Thompson Walters in 1865.

Charles Gleyre was known as an artist of classic methods but romantic tastes who often modified heroism into idyllic scenes. However, in execution he was not considered romantic, due to his use of pale colours, his delicate drawing style, and uncertain light. At the 1843 Salon (in Paris), Gleyre received praise for The Evening. In 1865, William T. Walters would commission a replica of the painting which was completed by Gleyre and Dussart and is now also known as Lost Illusions.

Lost Illusions depicts a vision Gleyre experienced one evening while on the banks of the Nile. It represents a despondent scene and uses softened tones. In the scene, an aging poet watches as a mysterious "bark" drifts away with his youthful illusions. The illusions are represented by maidens playing instruments and a cupid scattering flowers.

Currently, Lost Illusions is being featured in Off the Wall, an open-air exhibition on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. A reproduction of the painting, the original is part of The Walters Art Museum collection, was on display through January 2014 in O'Donnell Square. The National Gallery in London began the concept of bringing art out of doors in 2007 and the Detroit Institute of Art introduced the concept in the U.S.. The Off the Wall reproductions of the Walters' paintings are done on weather-resistant vinyl and include a description of the painting and a QR code for smart phones.

Wikipedia

France Sg?

When in 1863 Captain Robert Todd won the contract simultaneaously to carry the mail and parcel service bi-monthly from Venezuelan ports via Curacao to St Thomas, at that time Danish Virgin Islands, the need arose to acquire a vessel.

A screw steam sailing vessel was ordered by the Laird Bros in Birkenhead, U.K.
Built as an iron hulled packet vessel under yard No 306 by Laird Bros, Birkenhead for Leech, Harrison & Forwood, Liverpool, at that time they were the managers of the West-India & Pacific SS Co. in Liverpool.
04 May 1864 launched as the ROBERT TODD.
Tonnage 314 gross, 218 net, dim. 47.97 x 7.31 x 3.87m. (draught).
One 80 hp. steam engine.
Two masts, schooner rigged.
1864 completed. Some sources give that Captain Todd was the owner, but the yard list of Laird Bros give that she was built for Leech, Harrison & Forwood. Most probably Todd was a shareholder in the ship.

26 June 1864 the ROBERT TODD arrived on her maiden voyage in St Thomas from Liverpool. On 29 June 1864 she cleared for La Guairá, Venezuela, via Curacao and Port Cabello under command of Captain Todd. At that time she sailed under Venezuelan flag and registry. The distance between St Thomas and Curacao is ca. 440 miles and took the ROBERT TODD about 60 hours.
Thereafter she maintained the two-monthly service between this ports.
Around July 1867 Todd sold his ship and the mail contract to the merchant and ship-owner Messrs. J.A. Jeserun & Son, Curacao. The ROBERT TODD continued in service until 29 October 1867 when the ROBERT TODD was anchored in the harbour of St Thomas and the port was hit by a severe hurricane, the ROBERT TODD was driven ashore and filled with water. During that hurricane around 80 vessels were lost and 800 people killed in St Thomas. I think the crew of the Robert Todd were all rescued, can’t find any fatalities for the ship.
21 February 1868 advertised for sale by auction, that it looks that she was salvaged and repaired.
In June 1868 Lamb & Co. St Thomas announced the sailing of steamer ESTRELLA for la Guaira, which according to Venezuelan newspapers report was the former ROBERT TODD purchased by Lamb & Co.
21 December 1868 the ESTRELLA was wrecked on the Rocas Reef, Brazil a total loss, passengers and mail were saved.

Stamps used by Todd were printed to his order and his successor for the payment of postage on mail to be carried on the ROBERT TODD. They were valued for prepayment of postage in Venezuela in both directions, only the issue used till 1869 depict a two mast schooner rigged steamship and shows us the ROBERT TODD, the issues from 1869 shows us a three mast vessel, and can’t be the ROBERT TODD, till so far she has not been identified.

La Guairá 1864 Local Post Issues. Various stamps and colours.
Source: Log Book 4/68 and 14/194.

German submarine U-125 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser as yard number 988 on 10 May 1940, launched on 10 December and commissioned on 3 March 1941. In seven patrols, she sank 17 ships for a total of 82,873 gross register tons (GRT). The boat was a member of three wolfpacks. She was sunk on 6 May 1943. All 54 men on board died.
German Type IXC submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXBs. U-125 had a displacement of 1,120 tonnes (1,100 long tons) when at the surface and 1,232 tonnes (1,213 long tons) while submerged. The U-boat had a total length of 76.76 m (251 ft 10 in), a pressure hull length of 58.75 m (192 ft 9 in), a beam of 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in), a height of 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in), and a draught of 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in). The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of 4,400 metric horsepower (3,240 kW; 4,340 shp) for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 1,000 metric horsepower (740 kW; 990 shp) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.92 m (6 ft) propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750 ft).
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.3 knots (33.9 km/h; 21.1 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph). When submerged, the boat could operate for 63 nautical miles (117 km; 72 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 13,450 nautical miles (24,910 km; 15,480 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). U-125 was fitted with six 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one 10.5 cm (4.13 in) SK C/32 naval gun, 180 rounds, and a 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 as well as a 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.

U-125 departed Kiel on 15 July 1941 on her first patrol, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Günter Kuhnke, arriving in the recently captured French Atlantic port of Lorient fourteen days later. Her route took her along the Norwegian coast, through the gap separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Her second patrol took her down the coast of West Africa, then through the Atlantic and back to her home-port without making any attacks. She ranged far and wide, heading for Brazil and back to Africa, toward Sierra Leone and Liberia.

U-125 had her first success on her third patrol, under her new commander Kapitänleutnant Ulrich Folkers, sinking the American merchant ship West Ivis off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on 26 January 1942. The ship broke in two and went down after 14 minutes. The crew of 36 and the nine Armed Guards (the ship was armed with a 4-inch (100mm) gun, four .50 cal. and four .30 cal. machine guns) were lost.

U-125 sailed on her fourth and most successful patrol from Lorient on 4 April 1942. She made her first attack on the 23rd, sinking the American merchant ship Lammot Du Pont, about 500 nmi (930 km; 580 mi) south-east of Bermuda. Between 3 – 18 May, she sank a further eight merchant ships, in the Caribbean, south of Cuba, returning to her home port on 13 June. One victim, Calgarolite, was hit by two torpedoes but despite settling, did not sink. The boat's AA guns were used to shoot holes in the hull. Following the demise of Camayagua, a US Navy aircraft unsuccessfully searched for the U-boat; then flew to Georgetown where it dropped a note in the Commissioner's garden with information on the survivors.

U-125's next patrol, the fifth, beginning on 27 July 1942, took her to the coast of West Africa, where she sank six merchant ships between 1 September and 8 October, returning to Lorient on 6 November 1942. Following the sinking of Baron Ogilvy on 29 September, the survivors sighted a small convoy on 1 October and succeeded in attracting their attention with flares. Unfortunately, one of them ignited in the Chief Officer's hand, causing severe burns.
The Glendene went to the bottom 90 seconds after being hit. Despite this rapidity, 38 of the 43-man crew survived the sinking.
U-125 sailed on her sixth patrol on 9 December 1942, out into the central Atlantic, south-west of the Azores, but she made no attacks before returning to Lorient on 19 February 1943.

U-125 left Lorient for the last time on her seventh patrol on 13 April 1943. She joined the "wolfpack" "Fink" (English: Finch) of 28 U-boats which were attacking the convoy ONS-5 between 26 April and 6 May 1943. This was during a period when the British code-breakers were unable to read German U-boat signals while they could read British convoy signals, and ONS-5 was intercepted by a strong U-boat force during an Atlantic storm. Nevertheless, the boat only sank one ship, on 4 May south of Cape Farewell (Greenland), she was perhaps ironically called Lorient, a straggler from ONS-5; there were no survivors.
ONS-5 was a 43-ship convoy, nine miles wide by two long, with one destroyer, one frigate, three corvettes and two rescue tugs to defend it. It was attacked by around thirty U-boats, and lost thirteen ships in total, while seven U-boats were sunk by the escorts and supporting aircraft. It was a particularly bloody battle which marked the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, showing that while determined mass attack by U-boats could break through convoy defences, this would prove too expensive a tactic to make U-boat warfare a winning strategy for Germany. Admiral Karl Dönitz lost his son in this battle.

At 03:00 on 6 May 1943 U-125 was located by radar in thick fog, rammed by HMS Oribi and disabled, she was unable to dive. At 03:54 the U-boat was sighted by the Flower-class corvettes Snowflake and Sunflower, and as Snowflake manoeuvred to attack, closing to 100 yards, the crew of U-125, realising their indefensible position, scuttled the boat. The captain of Snowflake signalled the Senior Officer Escort, Lieutenant Commander Robert Sherwood, proposing to pick them up, and received the response: "Not approved to pick up survivors." Snowflake and Sunflower thereupon resumed their positions around the convoy, while the crew of U-125 died in the Atlantic over the next few hours.

Wikipedia

Cayman Is Sg?

This stamp is designed after a painting from the Flemish painter Andries van Eertvelt (1590-1655) see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andries_van_Eertvelt
The painting, “A Dutch ship running out of the harbour” is now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, Great Britain.
The vessel depict is not identified, and will depict a Dutch war-cargo vessel of that time.

Paraguay 1972 50c sg?, scott 1431.

Built in 1981-'83 by General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut for the US Navy.
laid down:24 July 1981, Launched:27 August 1983, Commissioned: 21 July 1984.
Los Angeles-class submarine, Displacement, Surfaced: 5748 t. Submerged: 6123 t. Length: 360', Beam: 33', Draft: 29', Speed, Surfaced 25 kn. Submerged 30+ kn. Depth limit 950'. Complement:129, Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes aft of bow can also launch Harpoon and Tomahawk ASM/LAM missiles & MK-48 torpedoes; Combat Systems, AN/BPS-5 surface search radar, AN/BPS-15 A/16 navigation and fire control radar, TB-16D passive towed sonar arrays, TB-23 passive "thin line" towed array, AN/BQG-5D wide aperture flank array, AN/BQQ-5D/E low frequency spherical sonar array, AN/BQS-15 close range active sonar (for ice detection); MIDAS Mine and Ice Detection Avoidance System, SADS-TG active detection sonar, Type 2 attack periscope (port), Type 18 search periscope (starboard), AN/BSY-1 (primary computer); UYK-7; UYK-43; UYK-44, WLR-9 Acoustic Intercept Receiver, ESM; Propulsion System, S6G nuclear reactor one propeller at 35,000 shp.
Decommissioned: 14 December 2006, fate: to be disposed of by submarine recycling.

USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER (SSN-709), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, pioneer of the nuclear Navy, and the only Los Angeles-class submarine not named after a United States city or town. It was initially to be named the USS PROVIDENCE however, following the retirement of Admiral Rickover, its name was reassigned prior to official christening. SSN-719 was later given the name USS PROVIDENCE.

The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 10 December 1973 and her keel was laid down on 24 July 1981. She was launched on 27 August 1983 sponsored by the Admiral's wife, Mrs. Eleonore Ann Bednowicz Rickover (whose first name is found in a wide variety of spellings, including Eleanore, Elenore, and Eleanor; Eleonore is used on the Admiral's gravestone[1]).

The RICKOVER was commissioned on 21 July 1984 with Captain Fredrik Spruitenburg in command. A commemorative plaque honoring the ship's namesake was placed within the sub after commissioning with the poem "Admiral Rickover," an eight-line tribute by writer Ronald W. Bell. The poem appears below, provided by the author and with his permission:

ADMIRAL RICKOVER
Possessed of a purpose
He forged a path
Across a frontier
Untried and new
Clinging to his course
He met the task
Threescore and more
He served for you.

(USA 2000, 33 c. StG.?)
Internet.