Ships of Croatia

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Thanks to blogger friend, Mr. Dragan Buskulic from Croatia for sending me the complete set of "Ships of Croatia" issued on August 27, 1998, and also sent a ship postcard and some other ship stamps.

1.20 Kuna - Scott 376 - Serilia Liburnica - The archaeological finds of two small Liburnian boats, 6 and 8 metres in length, discovered in the ancient port in the vicinity of Nin, prove the seafaring orientation and shipbuilding skill of the Liburnians (ancient inhabitants who lived in now southwest of Croatia). Both discovered boats have been built completely using wood and wooden parts and joined by sewing, connected by ropes, and wooden wedges. The square sail of the boat on the double mast was probably made of leather. The Liburnian serilia from Nin, that proves the ancient tradition from the era before metals started being used, represents a rare example of a historical sewn boat.

1.50 Kuna - Scott 376A - Condura Croatica - Fighting ship of the 11-12th Century. In 1966, at the entrance to the port of Nin, two small boats were discovered. These are 7 and 8 metres in length. It is believed that these boats could be early Croatian conduras. The design of the boat reminds of the design of the Liburnian serilia, so it could be said that it represents a successful combination of Croatian and Liburnian shipbuilding tradition.

1.60 Kuna - Scott 376B - Dubrovacka Karaka (Dubrovnik Carrack)/The Ragusan Argosy, 16th Century. The shipyards in the city of Dubrovnik of the Ragusan republic built the majority of almost 200 ships for the Adriatic coastal and overseas navigation. The citizens of Dubrovnik were widely known as builders of large argosies and galleons. This is the reason that the name "argosy", derived from Ragusa, the old name for Dubrovnik, and even Shakespeare mentions it in his "Merchant of Venice". From the 14th to the 17th century, the argosy was one of the most important sailing ships on the Mediterranean. The argosy can really be considered the actual forerunner of the three-masted sailing-ships whose development continued until the 19th century.

1.80 Kuna - Scott 376C - Bracera - The bracera, the coastal cargo sailing-vessel is the most characteristic merchant boat along the Croatian coast of the Adriatic 12 to 17 metres in length. The bracera, like other boats in the Adriatic, that have for centuries represented the traditional centre of a certain seafaring social community shows the perfection of form of a small boat, achieved in the course of a thousand-year-long evolution.

2.45 Kuna - Scott 376D - Neretvanska Lada - The ship from the Neretva has been exceptionally useful and popular vessel of the population from the valley of the river Neretva. The ship has always been a stable boat that could take a heavy load and pass through narrow channels or through the dense rushes of the river delta. The ship from the Neretva represents a fossil example of the traditional shipbuilding of the Croats, particularly in the case of a small boat.

2.65 Kuna - Scott 376E - Bark (Barque) - Barques dominated among the 19th century merchant sailing-ships on the Adriatic. These were mostly three-masted sailing ships. At the end of the 19th century, large sailing-ships finally lost the battle with the steamships on all the world seas and oceans, on the Adriatic, too. The new shipbuilding centres have taken over precedence by introducing new ideas and technologies.

4.00 Kuna - Scott 376F - Vila Velerita, The Training Ship - the brig-schooner was the legendary training ship, with almost sixty generations of Croatian seamen acquiring their first seafaring experience there. From the year 1908 "Vila Velebita" sailed as the training ship along the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, mostly as far as Greece. Besides being a training ship, the "Vila Velebita" also served as a vessel for students, excursions and hydrographic research. It has become one of the Croatian nautical legends, owing to its invaluable role in the training of many generations of Croatian seamen.

7.20 Kuna - Scott 376G - Amorela/Amorella, the passenger ship - "Amorella" is the first modern ship for the transportation of passengers and cars built after splitting of shipbuilding in 1988 and 1989. The Croatian shipbuilders have been given great credit for the twin ships "Amorella" and "Isabella": they have been named "ships of the year" in their class for the successive years 1988 and 1989 in the journal "Maritime Reporter & Engineering News".

20.00 Kuna - Scott 376H - Kralj Petar Kresimir IV, the missile gun-boat - In the spring of the war year 1992, the missile gun-boat RO3, the first newly-built war ship in the Republic of Croatia, was launched in the shipyard Kraljevica. It is a small but powerfully armed combat boat, intended as a missile basis of the shock maritime forces. It is equipped in such a way that it could act independently or at the head of a combat group of boats. It is the standard-bearer of the defence forces of the Croatian Navy.

Source: Croatian Post Inc.