Hong Kong: Paquetbot 'local ship post'
May 14, 2017 21:01:09 GMT
tomiseksj and Beryllium Guy like this
Post by Anping on May 14, 2017 21:01:09 GMT
I have just obtained a small number of related covers which I stumbled upon when trawling through eBay. These intrigued me, even though it was not at all apparent what they were exactly.
I wasn't sure under which thread category to post these, as they are both postal and cinderella in nature. Following advice, I'm posting these under an appropriate country (not as straight-forward as one might imagine) but will replicate some of the information under the Cinderella category. I hope this might be of interest, even if just for curiosity value.
To start with, here is a cover prepared on board Marine Vessel Atholl Forest, registered in Glasgow, Scotland.
This features a hand drawn Foochow pole junk, a couple of inked hand stamps of whales (one of which is on the reverse), and a “Paquebot Mailed On Board” handstamp. It was 'posted at sea' off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
In addition to the two GB Christmas stamps cancelled with a Hong Kong 'Paquebot' postmark, a 'local ships postal label' (for want of a better description) has also been affixed.
Only after receiving the covers in the post and looking at the reverse, did I then spot a potential clue:
The personal cachet of Captain Bryan Hill, depicting an anchor supporting the number 14 and the initials 'G.B.L.A.', rang a bell. Having delved a little deeper, some of the information I found looked very familiar:
In essence, Captain Bryan Hill is the author of a book entitled, Stamps of the Great Bitter Lake Association. He documented what were known as the The Great Bitter Lake Locals !
The Great Bitter Lake is a saltwater lake which is part of the Suez Canal. During the Six-Day War in 1967, the canal was closed, leaving 14 ships trapped in the lake.
Both ends of the canal were closed, and after three days it became apparent that the canal would remain blocked for some time as a result of the scuttling of ships to block its passage. The fourteen ships were forced to anchor in the widest part of the Suez Canal, the Great Bitter Lake. Some of the scuttled ships cut off the MS Observer from the other ships and it had to anchor in Lake Timsah.
These ships became known as the Yellow Fleet, because of the desert sands which soon covered their decks. A number of local postage stamps were created by the crews.
In October 1967 the officers and crews of all fourteen ships met on the M.S. Melampus to found the "Great Bitter Lake Association" which would provide mutual support. In the time to come, the crew members regularly met on board their ships, organized social events, founded a yachting club and held the "Bitter Lake Olympic Games."
Eventually, it was possible to reduce the number of crew members on board the ships, and in 1969 the ships were gathered into several groups to further reduce the number of crew necessary for their upkeep.
Those crew that were left to maintain the vessels were rotated every three months. In 1972 the last crew members of the German ships were finally sent home, with the maintenance of the ships left to a Norwegian company.
A postal system soon evolved; the hand-crafted stamps of which became collectors' items around the world. The Egyptian postal authority recognized the stamps so that they could be used world wide.
The ships complied with mailing requests from all over the world. For collectors, the reverse of covers featured all available stamps of all vessels.
On Sundays, everybody used to meet aboard the M.S. Nordwind, brought the rubber stamps along, and worked together in a small ‘ships cancellation office’.
For more information see:
The Yellow Fleet
There is also a very useful website that has images and descriptions of all the handmade local stamps:
The Great Bitter Lake Locals !
The trapped ships were:
◾ 'MS Nordwind', 8.656 GRT, Nordstern Reederei, Germany.
◾ 'MS Münsterland', 9.365 GRT, Hapag-Lloyd, Germany.
◾ 'MS Killara', 10.714 GRT, Rederiaktiebolaget Transatlantic, Sweden.
◾ 'MS Nippon', 10.309 GRT, Svenska Ostasiatiska Kompaniet, Sweden.
◾ 'MS Essayons' ex 'Sindh', 7.051 GRT, Ruul-Pedersen Reederi, Norway; (at war’s outbreak MS 'Sindh' was owned by Messageries Maritimes, France.)
◾ 'MS Agapenor', 7.654 GRT, Blue Funnel Line, England.
◾ 'MS Melampus', 8.509 GRT, Blue Funnel Line, England.
◾ 'MS Scottish Star', 10.174 GRT, Blue Star Line, England.
◾ 'MS Port Invercargill', 10.463 GRT, Port Line, England.
◾ 'SS African Glen', 6.116 GRT, Farrell Lines, USA.
◾ 'MS Djakarta', 6.915 GRT, Polish Ocean Lines, Poland,
◾ 'MS Boleslaw Bierut', 6.674 GRT, Polish Ocean Lines, Poland.
◾ 'MS Vassil Levsky', 4.975 GRT, Navigation Maritime, Bulgaria.
◾ 'MS Lednice', 1.462 GRT, Czech Danube Navigation, Czechoslovakia.
Only two ships could leave by their own power when the canal was finally reopened in 1975. Extracted from a thread on Stampboards
It has been implied, although as yet unverified, that Captain Bryan Hill captained one of the incarcerated Suez vessels.
It would seem that Captain Hill later moved on in his career and adapted the local ship's post aboard his own vessels; which seems to be confirmed by a couple of enclosures I found in two of the covers. These I will show with the associated covers at a later time.
I wasn't sure under which thread category to post these, as they are both postal and cinderella in nature. Following advice, I'm posting these under an appropriate country (not as straight-forward as one might imagine) but will replicate some of the information under the Cinderella category. I hope this might be of interest, even if just for curiosity value.
To start with, here is a cover prepared on board Marine Vessel Atholl Forest, registered in Glasgow, Scotland.
This features a hand drawn Foochow pole junk, a couple of inked hand stamps of whales (one of which is on the reverse), and a “Paquebot Mailed On Board” handstamp. It was 'posted at sea' off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
In addition to the two GB Christmas stamps cancelled with a Hong Kong 'Paquebot' postmark, a 'local ships postal label' (for want of a better description) has also been affixed.
The Paracel Islands:
Only after receiving the covers in the post and looking at the reverse, did I then spot a potential clue:
The personal cachet of Captain Bryan Hill, depicting an anchor supporting the number 14 and the initials 'G.B.L.A.', rang a bell. Having delved a little deeper, some of the information I found looked very familiar:
In essence, Captain Bryan Hill is the author of a book entitled, Stamps of the Great Bitter Lake Association. He documented what were known as the The Great Bitter Lake Locals !
The Great Bitter Lake is a saltwater lake which is part of the Suez Canal. During the Six-Day War in 1967, the canal was closed, leaving 14 ships trapped in the lake.
Both ends of the canal were closed, and after three days it became apparent that the canal would remain blocked for some time as a result of the scuttling of ships to block its passage. The fourteen ships were forced to anchor in the widest part of the Suez Canal, the Great Bitter Lake. Some of the scuttled ships cut off the MS Observer from the other ships and it had to anchor in Lake Timsah.
These ships became known as the Yellow Fleet, because of the desert sands which soon covered their decks. A number of local postage stamps were created by the crews.
In October 1967 the officers and crews of all fourteen ships met on the M.S. Melampus to found the "Great Bitter Lake Association" which would provide mutual support. In the time to come, the crew members regularly met on board their ships, organized social events, founded a yachting club and held the "Bitter Lake Olympic Games."
Eventually, it was possible to reduce the number of crew members on board the ships, and in 1969 the ships were gathered into several groups to further reduce the number of crew necessary for their upkeep.
Those crew that were left to maintain the vessels were rotated every three months. In 1972 the last crew members of the German ships were finally sent home, with the maintenance of the ships left to a Norwegian company.
A postal system soon evolved; the hand-crafted stamps of which became collectors' items around the world. The Egyptian postal authority recognized the stamps so that they could be used world wide.
The ships complied with mailing requests from all over the world. For collectors, the reverse of covers featured all available stamps of all vessels.
On Sundays, everybody used to meet aboard the M.S. Nordwind, brought the rubber stamps along, and worked together in a small ‘ships cancellation office’.
For more information see:
The Yellow Fleet
There is also a very useful website that has images and descriptions of all the handmade local stamps:
The Great Bitter Lake Locals !
The trapped ships were:
◾ 'MS Nordwind', 8.656 GRT, Nordstern Reederei, Germany.
◾ 'MS Münsterland', 9.365 GRT, Hapag-Lloyd, Germany.
◾ 'MS Killara', 10.714 GRT, Rederiaktiebolaget Transatlantic, Sweden.
◾ 'MS Nippon', 10.309 GRT, Svenska Ostasiatiska Kompaniet, Sweden.
◾ 'MS Essayons' ex 'Sindh', 7.051 GRT, Ruul-Pedersen Reederi, Norway; (at war’s outbreak MS 'Sindh' was owned by Messageries Maritimes, France.)
◾ 'MS Agapenor', 7.654 GRT, Blue Funnel Line, England.
◾ 'MS Melampus', 8.509 GRT, Blue Funnel Line, England.
◾ 'MS Scottish Star', 10.174 GRT, Blue Star Line, England.
◾ 'MS Port Invercargill', 10.463 GRT, Port Line, England.
◾ 'SS African Glen', 6.116 GRT, Farrell Lines, USA.
◾ 'MS Djakarta', 6.915 GRT, Polish Ocean Lines, Poland,
◾ 'MS Boleslaw Bierut', 6.674 GRT, Polish Ocean Lines, Poland.
◾ 'MS Vassil Levsky', 4.975 GRT, Navigation Maritime, Bulgaria.
◾ 'MS Lednice', 1.462 GRT, Czech Danube Navigation, Czechoslovakia.
Only two ships could leave by their own power when the canal was finally reopened in 1975. Extracted from a thread on Stampboards
It has been implied, although as yet unverified, that Captain Bryan Hill captained one of the incarcerated Suez vessels.
It would seem that Captain Hill later moved on in his career and adapted the local ship's post aboard his own vessels; which seems to be confirmed by a couple of enclosures I found in two of the covers. These I will show with the associated covers at a later time.
