Ships on Banknotes #8 - Singapore $10

Date of Issue: March 01, 1988
Size in mm: 141 x 69
Color: Red

This banknote is of 3rd series of Singapore Banknotes commonly termed as "ship" series issued and used between 1984 and 1999. The series starts with the merchant craft of bygone days, and progresses to the modern bulk carrier which is featured on the highest denomination. The nine denominations in this series are $1, $2, $5, $10, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $10,000.

The vessel depicted in this $10 banknote is a barter trading vessel - "Palari" a two-masted wooden sailing ship with a stern and keel. This is the older type of the traditional Indonesian sailing ship - Pinisi.

Click here to see other banknotes in my collection with ships.

Source: Wikipedia, mas.gov.sg

Thanks to blogger friend Ms. Malini,  (Encyclobanknotes) for sending me this banknote.

Card from Belarus

This is my first post card from Belarus and also the first on my theme from Belarus. The card shows passenger ferries at a river station on river Irtysh in Omsk (Russia).

Many thanks to Marina from Belarus for sending this card.

Treasure Island

Date of Issue: March 18, 1969
Scott #: 198 - 201

A set of four stamps were issued by British Virgin Islands to commemorate 75th anniversary of death of R.L.Stevenson, author of the book "Treasure Island."  It is also one of my favorite books which I enjoyed reading in my childhood.

Designs:

4c - Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins (the boy who found the treasure map, and also the chief narrator of the story.

10c- Jim's escape from the pirates.

40c- The fight with Israel Hands

$1 - Treasure trove.

The author, Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His most well known books also include Kidnapped and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Treasure Island is an adventure novel narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book in 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881-82 under the title The Sea Cook; or, Treasure Island: A Story for Boys. The name of the ship which is involved in this story is the schooner - Hispaniola.

It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. "The effect of Treasure Island on our perception of pirates cannot be overestimated. Stevenson linked pirates forever with maps, black schooners, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulders. The treasure map with an X marking the location of the buried treasure is one of the most familiar pirate props", yet it is entirely a fictional invention which owes its origin to Stevenson's original map. The term "Treasure Island" has passed into the language as a common phrase, and is often used as a title for games, rides, places, etc.

It is said that the Virgin Islands were used as the setting for "Treasure Island."

Interested to know the summary of the Treasure Island and the characters involved? Click here

Source: Scott catalog and Wikipedia

Card #8 from Germany

Thanks to postcrosser Christine, Germany for sending me this wonderful card of the Gorch Fock, sail training vessel of the German Navy, launched on 1958.

Germany also issued a stamp to commemorate 50 years of service of Gorch Fock on 2009. Click here to see the stamp and details.

Card #10 from Finland

Received this postcard from Ms. Nina, Finland, living in Borga, a seaside town at the south coast.

The card shows the Brigantine Fredrik on full sails leaving the Port of Palermo on 1871, a historic city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo.

Meeting of the two famous Ocean Liners at Sydney, Australia

Date of Issue:
Limited Edition Cover: February 24, 2008
Stamps: January 13, 2008
Scott #: 1239 a, c

I received this spectacular limited edition cover as a gift from IOM Post Office. :)

Info from back of the cover: Following on from the historic meeting of the Cunard Queens, namely Queen Elizabeth 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Mary 2 in New York on the 13th January 2008, the Isle of Man Post Office is delighted to present a special tribute to the last ever voyage of QE2 to Australia before she leaves Cunard Service.

The last voyage promises to be a very special occasion as she meets up with the Queen Victoria in Sydney Harbor for the first and last time.

Explorers - Arctic and Antarctic

Date of Issue: September 14, 1995
Scott #: 2477

This beautifully designed set of four stamps shows the four famous explorers of the arctic and antarctic.

Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) - was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. He led the first crossing of Greenland by ski, and achieved great success with his Arctic expedition aboard Fram.

Captain James Cook (1728–1779) was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy.

Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage.

Robert F. Scott (1868-1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13.

Battle of Colachel, 1741 A.D.

Date of Issue: April 01, 2004
Scott #: 2055

India Post issued this stamp to commemorate the tercentenary (300th anniversary) of the raising of the 9th Battalion of Madras Regiment.

A dramatic and virtually unknown past, in an area of bucolic calm surrounded by spectacular hills: that is Colachel, a name that should be better known to us. For this is where, in 1741, an extraordinary event took place the Battle of Colachel. For the first, and perhaps the only time in Indian history, an Indian kingdom defeated a European naval force. 

The Battle of Colachel (or Battle of Kulachal) was fought on July 1741  between forces of the Indian kingdom of Travancore and the Dutch East India Company, during the Travancore-Dutch War. It was the first major defeat of a European military force by one from South Asia. The Dutch never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India, assisting the British East India Company's eventual rise to dominance on the subcontinent.

The battle began when a force of Dutch marines under the leadership of a Flemish commander, Captain Eustachius De Lannoy  (also spelt D'lennoy) were sent to Travancore to secure a trading post from the Raja. They landed with artillery in Kulachal, then a small but important coastal town, and captured the territory up to Padmanabhapuram, then the capital of Travancore. The arrival of the Raja's army from the north forced the Dutch to take up defensive positions in Kulachal, where they were attacked and defeated by the Travancore Nair Army. The key element of the Raja's army was his personal army, known as the Travancore Nair Brigade or locally known as the Nair Pattalam. This unit was later integrated into the Indian Army as the 9th Battalion Madras Regiment and the 16th Battalion Madras Regiment in 1954.

In order to commemorate this great victory of the Travancore Army over the Dutch at Colachel, the Travancore Government installed the Colachel Pillar (can also be seen in the stamp) at the very spot where the Dutch had capitulated to the Maharaja of Travancore. The Colachel Pillar stands 17 feet high and has a radius of four feet. It has conch at the top of the pillar and on its base the following words are inscribed in memory of the fallen brethren during the battle :- “In remembrance of all the brave men of Travancore Army who laid down their lives in defeating the superior Dutch forces during the Battle of Colachel in July 1741”.

After the defeat, Commander D'lennoy went on to serve King Marthanda Varma for the next two decades and was promoted to the post of the Valiya kappithan (Senior Admiral) of the Travancore forces same status like a Nair lord.

Source: Wikipedia, indianarmy.nic.in, incrediblekumari.blogspot.com