SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built. Here is an image of a stamp depicting SS Normandie, issued by France on June 7, 1935, Scott No. 300, Yvert & Tellier No. 299. Just look at that mighty bow wave!
Isle of Man Post Office presents six stories of the most notorious and significant shipwrecks in the waters off the Isle of Man over a period of almost five-hundred years.
Many hundreds of ships have met their final fate around the coast of the Isle of Man. The Island’s central location in the Irish Sea and proximity to major shipping routes have been factors in centuries of losses.
This six stamp collection, tells the story of six iconic shipwrecks of the Isle of Man. Four stamps feature archival imagery courtesy of Manx National Heritage, with the older Shipwrecks (The Racehorse and Sancta Catalina), being represented through original artworks by local artist Paul Parker.
Patache Sancta Catalina - The Spanish Head Armada Wreck 1588
Folk tradition says a Spanish Armada galleon was wrecked in the south of the Island at Spanish Head. People native to Rushen parish are said to have certain Spanish features after survivors married local women, and even today the term ‘Spaniard’ is often heard as a colloquial term for a Manx person from Rushen.
HMS Brig Racehorse - The Skerranes, Langness 14th December 1822
HMS Racehorse was bound for Douglas to collect the crew of the cutter Vigilant when she struck Langness. Two boats were launched from the Racehorse to seek local help. Despite rough seas, one local boat made several journeys to the wreck. However, on the final journey back to Castletown a large wave swamped the boat drowning five naval crew and three local men.
Brig Lily - Kitterland in the Calf Sound 27th December 1852
The Lily, bound for southwest Africa, with a general cargo, including 61 tons of gunpowder, was caught off the Calf of Man in a storm and driven ashore on Kitterland in the Calf Sound killing five of her crew. Early the next day a salvage party observed smoke coming from the wreck. Carpenters cut a hole in the deck to extinguish the fire. As soon as air entered the hold there was a huge explosion which killed 29 men.
Barque Thorne - Port Jack, Onchan 25th January 1890
The Manx version of Whisky Galore! Heavy seas burst open the ship’s main hatch, and cargo, including whisky and brandy in casks, floated out. The police and customs officials were at hand to try and prevent pilfering, but many individuals still managed to obtain large quantities of spirits, leading to amazing scenes of public drunkenness.
Steamship Clan MacMaster - The Calf Sound 30th September 1923
During dense fog the Clan MacMaster struck the Thousla Rock in the Calf Sound whilst on a voyage from Glasgow for the Far East via Liverpool. She was carrying a general cargo consisting mainly of motorcars, sewing machines, machinery, coal and cotton. She is the largest ship to have been wrecked on the Manx coast. Many homes in the south of the Isle of Man proudly owned a brand new Singer sewing machine after the wreck!
Steam Trawler Cevic - Ballure, Ramsey 26th June 1927
At 3am the second engineer got into the small boat moored alongside the Cevic, to row ashore to collect four men. The rope attaching it to the trawler snapped, and he was cast adrift. His crew mates feared that he would be in great danger in the rough seas. They weighed anchor and attempted to reach the small boat, but failed and the Cevic ran aground on rocks below Ballure on Ramsey South Beach.
Adrian Corkill
Maritime historian Adrian Corkill has been researching shipwrecks in the seas around the Isle of Man for over thirty years. He has built up a database of more than 1,800 shipwrecks and published five books covering several shipwreck topics.
He also explored many shipwreck sites first hand during his scuba diving career which led to the positive identification of a number of shipwrecks and to the discovery of several previously unknown shipwrecks. Adrian is currently working with Manx National Heritage to create the maritime section of the Isle of Man Historic Environment Record from his research.
Paul Parker
Paul was born on the Isle of Man in 1957. He is, for the most part, a self-taught artist. His work is mainly landscape paintings. But also motorcycle racing themes. These are realistic, in a loose impressionistic style. Details being inferred, not defined. He has had many one-person shows on the Island, the first being in 1980. The latest to be held in the Manx Museum this year (2022). He works in watercolour, acrylic and pastel. The subject suggests the medium used. His work is about light and atmosphere. The message, if there is one: "I liked this, and I thought you might too.” A chance to see the world through another's eyes. It's that simple.
Illustrations Paul Parker
Text Adrian Corkill
Printer bpost
Process Offset lithography
Colours 4
Paper PVA gummed 110 gms
Perforations 11.5 per 2cms
Stamp Size 40 x 30 mm
Format Sheets of 20
Stamp Set 6
Date of Issue 12th October 2022
Limited Editions Presentation Pack 1100; First Day Cover 1500
Sagar Samrat is a drill-ship, a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. It was the first rig that drilled the first well offshore in 1974.
Here are five things you need to know about Sagar Samrat:
Built in 1970 at the OY Nautors Ab shipyard in Pietarsaari, Finland, she was designed by Sparkman and Stevens as a Swan-class ship. She weighs 10.5 tons, she is 36.6 feet long, 10.9 feet wide and 6.1 feet draft.
In 1985 she was sold to India's Sapper Adventure Foundation and renamed TRISHNA, which in Hindi means the urge to satisfy a deep-seated desire. From 1985 to 1987 she was used for circumnavigation from India and was boarded by Indian Navy personnel. She sailed west via the Panama Canal (course shown on stamp).
She has since completed two more of her long trips. From 1994 she returned to Singapore from Bombay in 1995 and from 1996 she returned to Muscat from Bombay in 1997 she returned to Salalah Ramahe. During the year 1000 she made another voyage from Mumbai to Singapore and visited many ports during her voyage to and from Singapore.
India issued in December 1997 a series of
stamps for the Indepex ’97 World Philatelic Exhibition of which the
6.00R stamp shows us a sailing mail boat in one of the rivers of India.
By the stamp is given:
An experimental River Mail was commenced in 1828 by the Governor-General
Lord William Bentinck for carrying mail via the river from Calcutta to
Allahabad.
By 1834 the Prinsep enterprise was well established with longboats of
six sails ( The stamp shows 4 sails) and with steam power in the bow and
a rudder astern. These craft with a shallow draught could easily
navigate the river with a depth of 2½ ft. of water at most places even
at the height of the monsoon.
Though initially they were used only to transport parcels, later was this extended to the transport of goods and the mails.
Source: https://www.istampgallery.com/
INS Ganga of Indian Navy is the fourth ship to bear this illustrious name and was commissioned into Indian Navy on 30 Dec 1985. A Godavari class ship built by Mazagaon Docks ltd Mumbai was decommissioned on 22 Mar 2018 after 33 years of glorious Service to the Nation.
A Special Cover was released by Maharashtra Postal Circle on 21 Mar 2018 to commemorate the event.
INS Ganga, the second of the indigenously built ‘Godavari’ class guided missile frigate, was commissioned into the #IndianNavy on 30 December 1985. The ship has a displacement of 4,200 tonnes, a length of 125 metres and a beam of 14.4 metres and is capable of speed in excess of 25 knots. The ship is manned by a crew of 30 officers and 300 sailors. The ship is fitted with a medium range gun, close range anti-aircraft guns, surface to surface missiles, surface to air Barak missiles and torpedo launchers. The ship has a wide array of sensors which cover all facets of maritime warfare. In addition to operating a combination of Seaking, ALH and Chetak helicopters, the ship is also capable of operating UAVs over the sea. This enables the ship to perform a wide variety of roles including coastal and offshore patrolling, monitoring of Sea Lines of Communication, maritime diplomacy and counter terrorism and anti-piracy operations. The ship is one of the early examples of “Make in India” with respect to indigenous warship design and building capability, as it was designed entirely by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design and built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai. The ship is named after the holy Ganga River in North India flowing from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. The crest of Ganga represents the snow covered mountain peaks of the Himalayas which is the source of the river, with green valleys in the foreground and the river flowing through the valley in blue colour. The ship lives up to and by her motto of ‘Fight to Vanquish the Enemy’.
