This 3d stamp of Gibraltar, which incidentally was overprinted "Royal Visit 1954" on the occasion of the visit of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the close of their world tour, shows the Italian liner Saturnia and a Straits steamer, evidently from an old photograph, for the former vessel has the cowl top of her earlier days. She was built in 1927 at Monfalcone for the Cosulich Line's River Plate trade but was diverted to the North American service with her sister the Vulcania. The two sisters were taken over with other ships of the fleet by the Italia group of companies in 1937. In September 1943, following the Italian armistice, the Saturnia was handed over to the Allies and was sent to New York. Here she was converted into a troopship and after making a number of voyages was sent to the Todd-Erie Basin at New York for refitting as an hospital ship. She was then renamed Frances Y. Slanger in honour of an American Army nurse, Second-Lieut. Frances Y. Slanger, who was the seventh U.S. nurse to lose her life in the Second World War and the first to be killed in the European war zone. After hostilities the ship again came under the control of the Italia Navigation Company and is operating once more in the North American service of the company. Her dimensions are 630.1ft. x 79.8ft. x 29.5ft. on a gross tonnage of 24,346.
SG159 Sea Breezes 3/55