Mauritius was the first British colony to issue postage stamps, released in 1847, and now great rarities. The Dutch were the first Europeans to colonise the islands, landing in 1598. They held them for 112 years and then abandoned Mauritius in 1710. Five years later, the French mariner Guillaume Dufresne took possession of Mauritius and renamed it Ile de France. In 1721 the newly-formed French East India Company took over the control of Mauritius for use as a base for French privateers in operation against East Indiamen. and British shipping in the Indian Ocean. In July 1810 Admiral Lord Rodney secured Mauritius for the British Crown and they were ceded to Britain on May 29, 1814. The Dutch name Mauritius was revived.
Dutch Fluyt Maen, carrier of the first letter from the Governor of Mauritius, C. S. Goyer, to the directors of the Dutch East India Company, in August 1638. The fluyt was probably the most prominent type of merchantman in the 17th century, round-sterned, flat-bottomed, and a relatively narrow vessel. The stamp is a good representation of the vessel, at this period. Later in that century and from then onwards the decks of the fluyts gradually became broader. The narrow ships were built to avoid payment calculated on the width of the vessel, a new method of taxing being introduced in 1669.the reefs off Ile d'Ambre, Mauritius, on the night of August 17-18, 1741, with only nine lives saved out of the 192 persons aboard, consisting of 120 passengers and 72 crew.
SG505 Sea Breezes 9/76