Immediately before the State of Israel was established after the Second World War the Jewish authorities in Palestine acquired an odd assortment of vessels to run the British blockade carrying thousands of "illegal" Jewish immigrants. This stamp shows one of the smaller vessels of this fleet, the wooden-hulled auxiliary Nirit, built in 1945 by the Cantieri Navale Torre del Greco, Italy, as the St. Antonio 11. Bought in 1948 by Ships and Vessels Ltd., later merged in the Shoham Maritime Services, she became an immigrant carrier under the name Nirit although her name was not officially changed until 1951. This craft remained in the Shoham service until 1956 when she passed to Italian owners for use as a fishing vessel.
SG144 Sea Breezes 2/58