Lerina

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Lerina

Post by shipstamps » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:26 am

Lundy Island, about 25 miles from Bideford, is one of the few places in the British Isles which has its own postage stamps and currency. "Lund" is the old Norse word for puffin and it was from the Vikings that the island received its name. In 1929, the owner, the late Mr. Martin Coles Harman, conceived the idea of introducing "local" stamps to be affixed to outgoing and incoming mails as prepayment for the conveyance of letters by the island's motorship Lerina, or by the Atlantic Coast Air Services.Since 1929 Lundy has had its own stamps and the present owner of the island, Mr. Albion Harman, has continued the service without a break. However, the necessity of stamps for Lundy is often questioned for there are only 14 permanent residents on the island who pay no taxes. There are also no licensing laws.Each year, however, several thousands of visitors send and receive a considerable amount of mail, and there are many field societies whose members come to study birds and other wild life. It is for the con¬venience of these visitors that the mail service is principally intended. Mail to Lundy is received by the master of the island's only craft, or by a representative of the air company, from the British Post Office, in a sealed bag, taken down to the quay at Bideford—or to the airport—and conveyed to the island.
There is no separate post office building on the island but the postmaster, Mr. F. W. Gade, conducts business from his general shop. Lundy differs from other members of the Universal Postal Union in that incoming letters have to be stamped as well as outgoing. Incoming letters are stamped with the appropriate " puffinage" (Lundy's coinage is 12 "puffins" to the shilling) and stamps are cancelled with the Lundy postmark. Letters and parcels are delivered to the recipients against payment of the puffinage.To commemorate the silver jubilee of the service a series of surface mail stamps was issued on January 1, 1954 and the four puffin stamps of this set show the motorship Lerina. Postmaster Gade has provided the following particulars of the vessel's career. The Lerina, a wooden vessel, was built as an East coast drifter by Colby Brothers of Oulton Broad, Suffolk, in 1917, and was equipped with a 90hp. Bolinders engine. In 1921 she was bought by Mr. Augustus Langham Christie of Tapley Park, Instow, North Devon when Mr. Christie was the owner of Lundy. The fishing gear was taken out of the vessel and the hold and hatch modified for the carriage of cargo. To satisfy the requirements of the Board of Trade she was equipped with two 16-ft. lifeboats on davits as application had been submitted for her to carry 40 passengers in addition to crew. Two deckhouses were also fitted, one forward of the wheelhouse and the other abaft it. In October 1925 Mr. Martin Coles Harman, when he bought Lundy, also acquired the Lerina.
At the end of 1941 the vessel had been taken over by the Admiralty. She was later bought outright and Skipper Dark and his crew of two, engineman and mate, were enrolled into an auxiliary branch of the Royal Navy. The Lerina then became an auxiliary patrol vessel employed in the approaches to the rivers Taw and Torridge, when invasion seemed imminent. After a year's conscientious service, Frederick Dark was appointed a Royal Navy pilot for the naval station at Appledore. When he joined the Service he was 70 but looked much younger. He died during 1942. The Lerina was employed tending divers engaged in laying the experimental "Pluto" line across the Bristol Channel and after this was drafted to the small vessels' pool and subsequently put up for sale.
In 1946 she was bought back by Mr. Martin Coles Harman who appointed Capt. G. Wilson master. Capt. Wilson had her until early in 1948 when he was succeeded by Skipper Evans of Northam who in turn was succeeded by Skipper A. Hooper of Appledore. By this time her machinery was worn out and in 1950 it was obvious that a new engine was required. The Lerina was then laid-up, her owner preferring to buy another vessel rather than carry out repairs in the ageing craft. Eventually she was broken up and her place taken by the auxiliary Lundy Gannet which visitors to Bideford may see berthed at the quay not far down river from the bridge.
The Lerina's dimensions were as follows 78 ft. 6 in. x 18 ft. 7 in. x 8 ft. 5 in., for a gross tonnage of 71. Net tonnage was 42. With main and mizzen of equal height, she was "dandy-rigged", i.e. she set two triangular sails, one on each mast, of similar size. When she was acquired by the Admiralty the deckhouses were removed and she was lightly armed. Under the ownership of Mr. Christie the Lerina was registered at Barnstaple, but under the Harman registration was transferred to London.
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