La MÉLANIE fishing schooner

[aukepalmhof]

The stamp is designed after a painting of the schooner MÉlANIE, painted by Mélanie Detcheverry.

In 1869, Alexandre Cormier, a valiant fisherman from Miquelon, decided to build his own schooner which he named MÉLANIE, after his mother's first name, Mélanie Rio. He built the schooner in Miquelon. From the union of Alexandre and Louise Disnard were born 12 children. To the second of their daughters, they would also give the first name of Mélanie, but it was his son Gustave who would take over the command of the schooner MÉLANIE.
The schooner had a gross tonnage of 33 cubic meters and a length of 11.41 meters. The MÉLANIE was first shipwrecked in the bay of Miquelon on June 13, 1897, during a violent storm. She was shipwrecked for the second time on September 29, 1914, by a violent easterly gale. A large part of the vessels that were anchored on corps mort came crashing on the shore. Two facts impressed the locals: a porcelain statue of the Virgin that was on board the MÉLANIE when she first sank was found broken into three pieces on the shore, but the three pieces were together. She was reattached and during the second sinking, despite the condition of the boat, it was found intact on the shore. A barrel of salt that was upright and open in the hold did not move, while the boat caught by the wave made a complete round turn on itself, breaking its two masts.

(What has happened after the second stranding with the boat is not given.)

Some one hundred and forty years later, she (Mélanie) heard the call of the sea. Mèlanie Detcheverry, a descendant of Alexandre Cormier, was going to round Cap de Miquelon and blindly follow the AIGLE ROYAL to head west, landing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the Magdalen Islands.
After taking off for the Magdalen Islands in 2015, Mélanie understands that her life will be spent on these islands, which are historically closely linked to her archipelago of birth. It is in the heart of the Gulf of St. Lawrence that she will meet the one who will become her husband in 2019. Her passion for the history of the islands will go so far as to ask Lucien Landry, former mayor of the islands who formalized the linking between Miquelon and the Magdalen Islands, to marry her. Thirty-five after the linking of 1984, a Miquelonnaise will take a Madelinot as her husband. The love for her native island will lead her to the search for her ancestors and their history. Painting lessons with Annie Morin will also give birth to her passion for painting. Her passion for history and genealogy made her particularly interested in the story of the schooner MÉLANIE built-in Miquelon in 1869 by her grandfather Alexandre Cormier. Under the enlightened advice of the artist Annie Morin, she will paint several canvases revolving around the sea and coastal landscapes. A contest of circumstance made the artist Patrick Dérible propose to the Philatelic Commission a painting of the schooner MÉLANIE. Under the advice of Raphaële Goineau, referent for graphics with the Philatelic Commission, she will produce a painting of the schooner which will be chosen for the illustration of a postage stamp.

Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Programe Philatelique 2022. (Google translated)
Saint Pierre et Miquelon 2022 1.30 Euro sg?, Scott?