HMAS Advance cover

Special cover for HMAS Advance 40th anniversary of the ship commissioning . Cover canceled with Garden Island postmark 

HMAS Advance (P 83) was an Attack class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Constructed during 1967 and commissioned into the RAN in 1968, Advance operated from Darwin and patrolled northern Australian waters.

During her career, the patrol boat shadowed a Soviet trawler, survived Cyclone Tracy, was used for filming of the television series Patrol Boat, and participated in the RAN's first anti-terrorism patrol of the North West Shelf. Advance was replaced in 1980, but continued to operate as a training ship until she was decommissioned in 1988.

Advance was donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum, which have maintained her in an operational condition. The vessel remains part of the museum's collection as of 2010.

Would love to get my hands on the FDC.

William Dampier- Navigator

William Dampier (born August 1651, East Coker, Somerset, England — died March 1715, London) was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer. 

He was the first Englishman to explore or map parts of New Holland (Australia) and New Guinea. He was the first person to circumnavigate the world three times.

Dampier appears on the 5 shilling stamp in the Early Navigators issue of 1963-1964.Then on the 50 cent Decimal reissue of 1966, and is part of the 1999 miniature set featuring the 6 Navigators of Australia.

For more details :wiki

Western Australia - Inverted Swan

The Inverted Swan, a 4-pence blue postage stamp issued in 1855 by Western Australia, was one of the world's first invert errors. Technically, it is a "frame invert".

In January 1855, additional 4d stamps were needed. When Alfred Hillman  brought the printing stone out of storage, he found that two of the impressions had been damaged, so he had to redo them. One of the replaced frames was tilted; the other was accidentally redone upside-down. The stone's block of 60 was transferred four times to make the printing stone, and 97 sheets were printed before Hillman discovered the mistake and corrected it, resulting in a total of 388 errors being printed.

However, the errors went unrecognized and unreported for several years. Only 15 complete copies, plus a part of a stamp in a strip of three, have survived. No unused copies are known.

THE KARRAN FLEET - Isle of Man

The Stamp set featured today is the Karran Fleet of Isle of Man.(SG. 259-263).They set of stamps were issued on 14th Feb 1984.

The ship displayed on the stamps are Manx King,Hope,Rio Grande, Lady Elizabeth and Sumatra.
 

Brief Details of the ship :

Manx King (10p) :

Built by Richardson Duck, Thornaby, England, 1884. 1751 gross tons; 251 (bp) feet long; 39 feet wide.  engine, .  Built for British owners, British flag, in 1884 and named Manx King. R.G. Karran, owner.

Manx King was a Norwegian Cargo sailing vessel of 1,729 tons built in 1884 by Richardson, Duck & Co., Stockton, England for R. G. Kerran, Castletown, IOM. She was later purchased by and owned by A/S Manx King (T. Wilhelms & Axel Jacobsen), Fredrikstad, Norway.
 

On the 8th July 1918 she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-156 when on route from New York for Rio de Janeiro

Hope (13p):

250 tons, built in Prussia around 1858. This ship was quite a marine curiosity as she had a centreboard. Capable of being drawn up to permit the vessel to settle on the bottom of shallow harbors. 

Rio Grande(20p):

This early small ship of the fleet was built at Topsham, Devon in UK 1868 It was the first command of Captain Karran and survived a terrible typhoon in the China Seas.

Lady Elizabeth (28p):

The Lady Elizabeth was an iron barque of 1,155 tons launched on June 4, 1879 and built by Robert Thompson Jr. of Southwick, Sunderland. Robert Thompson Jr. was one of the sons of Robert Thompson Sr. who owned and operated the family ran shipyard J. L. Thompson & Sons. Thompson Jr. eventually left the family business in 1854 to start his own shipbuilding business in Southwick, Sunderland.

The ship was built for John Wilson as a replacement for the 658-ton, 1869-built barque Lady Elizabeth which sank off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 1878.

The builders of the second Lady Elizabeth had also built the first ship. The ship had three-masts and was also just under average size compared to barques built by Robert Thompson. However, the later Lady Elizabeth was still the 7th largest ship the firm built.

John Wilson remained owner of the Lady Elizabeth and was captained by Alexander Findley from Montrose until March 15, 1884 when he took out a number of loans from G. Oliver and also with the bank. Eventually John Wilson declared bankruptcy and all of his ships, including the Lady Elizabeth were sold off.

The new owner was George Christian Karran who purchased the ship a few months later. Karrans' family owned a number of ships but this was George Christian Karrans' first ship. George Christian Karran also captained the ship for a few years. After owning the ship for a few years, George's elder brother Robert Gick Karran died leading George to command the Manx King. G.C. Karran took command of the Manx King. However, he remained owner of Lady Elizabeth until 1906.

In 1906 the Lady Elizabeth was purchased by the Norwegian company "Skibasaktieselskabet," for £3,250. The company was managed by L. Lyndersen and the Lady Elizabeth was captained by Peter Julius Hoigh.

Sumatra (31p):

The Sumatra was launched in 1858 from the Brocklebank shipyard at Whitehaven, to serve in their own fleet (T & J Brocklebank & Co.). She was a full-rigged ship with a wooden hull. She operated in the Calcutta trade and carried a crew of 28, variously under the command of Capts. Latham, Fletcher, Beattie, James T.Rorison and Roberts. 

In 1876 the ship was bought by  J. Karron, of Castletown, Isle of Man. Then in 1884 she was sold to A.F.Braga, of Montevideo, Uruguay. The ship was renamed  the Clara B. In 1887 the owner was named as Acties Clara (Chr.Moller) of Christiana, (now Oslo), Norway and her name had been shortened to just Clara 

Source:

1.Wiki

2.Information from "Merchant Fleets", Vol.27 by Duncan Haws.
2.From Cumberland to Cape Horn" by D.Hollett.
3."Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
4.www.kneen.com

5.Isle of Man Philatelic Bureau  

AAT - 50th anniversary of the Kista Dan's

The set of  stamp was issued to mark the 50^thKista Dan's first voyage to the Antarctic. Australia Post has released four stamps featuring the distinctive Dan ships – Kista Dan, Thala Dan, Magga Dan and Nella Dan.

The Kista Dan was the first of four 'Dan' ships built by the Danish firm J Lauritzen and chartered by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) for Australian Antarctic exploration and scientific research.

50c Kista Dan:

The charter of Kista Dan opened the door to Antarctica for ANARE. Much subantarctic research had been done since 1947 but in early 1954 the ice-strengthened Kista Dan allowed the establishment of Australia's first continental station – Mawson. On the return voyage Kista Dan weathered a 12-hour hurricane in Prydz Bay, when winds of over 100 knots and huge seas rolled her to 70°. Kista Dan is recognised in the naming of Kista Rock, west of Davis and Kista Strait, west of Mawson.

  

50c Magga Dan:

Magga Dan sailed down the Thames in November 1956 for her maiden voyage – to deploy the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and the Royal Society's Antarctic Expedition, to the Weddell Sea. In her ANARE service from 1959 to 1961, Magga Dan with Director Phil Law, surveyors, scientists and pilots, explored most of the coastline of Australian Antarctic Territory, from Mawson to Oates Land. The Australian flag was raised near Magga Peak in February 1959

$1 Thala Dan:

Thala Dan was launched in 1957, and was chartered by Australia later that year, working with ANARE until early 1982. On her voyage to Macquarie Island in late 1958 she carried the first helicopter used by ANARE. Thala Dan was extended six metres, rebuilt and modernised in 1975. The top superstructure deck was removed, a new deck built, and the old deckhouse replaced one level higher. This increased expeditioner accommodation to 50. New facilities included a larger helicopter deck, more deep-freeze storage space, and enclosed bridge wings. The new length overall was 81 metres. This $1 stamp features Thala Dan in her original layout. Thala Fjord, Thala Hills, Thala Rock and Thala Valley were named for Thala Dan.

$1.45 Nella Dan:

The most famous of the Dan ships to serve ANARE was the Nella Dan, named in honour of Nel Law. During its 26 years with ANARE it supported major exploratory and scientific activities. While resupplying Macquarie Island in December 1987, the Nella Dan was driven aground and eventually scuttled. The Nella Dan is shown anchored in the Antarctic.

This set of stamps were released on 15April 2003