Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) - June 16 - 24, 2012

Date of Issue: June 23, 2012

Kieler Woche (Kiel Week), the greatest annual sailing event in the world and the largest summer festival in northern Europe. A nine-day programme packed with over 2,000 events to entertain three million guests from all over the globe.

Kiel Week is held annually in the last complete week in June.  This year 2012, it was 130th Kiel Week.

One will see an endless forest of masts on the banks of the firth, with over one hundred windjammers and traditional sailing boats moored on the quayside. The fascination of tall ships will be at the forefront in the windjammer parade with more than 100 ships taking part on the second Saturday of Kieler Woche. Destroyers, frigates, corvettes, minesweepers and high-speed launches from a whole host of countries will come together in Tirpitz Harbour for the meeting of the navy fleets and "Open ship", while navy cutter regattas will be held in Kiel's inner-firth.

SY Star Flyer: Launched in 1991, a four-masted, yacht-size sailing ship, with a feeling of being on ones own private sailing yacht. The ship offers the ultimate in authentic sailing ship cruising. Click here to see the facts/technical specifications and facilities available in this luxury watercraft.

Click here to see postmark of Kieler Woche 2011

Thanks to my friend, Mr. Wolfgang Beyer for this envelope with special postmark.

Source: kieler-woche.de, wikipedia, thecruiselines.com

Hanseatic Days in Luneburg - special postmark

Date of Issue: June 30, 2012

32nd International Hanseatic Days was celebrated at Luneburg, Germany during June 28 - July 1, 2012. A special postmark was brought out by Luneburg Stamp Collectors Club, showing a cog (is a type of ship that first appeared in the 10th century, and was widely used from around the 12th century on. Cogs were generally built of oak, which was an abundant timber in the Baltic region of Prussia. This vessel was fitted with a single mast and a square-rigged single sail. These vessels were mostly associated with seagoing trade in medieval Europe, especially the Hanseatic League, particularly in the Baltic Sea region) and wooden barrels.

The Hanseatic City of Luneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about 45 km (28 mi) southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It lies on the river Ilmenau, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from its confluence with the Elbe. The river flows through the town; it was formerly traversed by cogs taking salt from the town to the other, larger ports of the Hanseatic League nearby.

Thanks to friend, Mr. Wolfgang Beyer for the envelope.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Arrival of Indian Laborers in South Africa - 150th Anniv

Date of Issue:
Sheet 1: October 21, 2011
Sheet 2: November 25, 2011

In partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture, the Department of Communications and the South African Post Office, two stamps have been launched, with a further two sets set for launch in 2012.

The stamps feature a sketch of the S.S. Truro, the ship that brought the first indentured laborers for the sugarcane plantations in Natal province from India in 1860, and photographs of passengers coming ashore at the Durban port.

There are also pictures of sugarcane cutters to serve as a poignant reminder of the extreme hardship and endurance of the early laborers from whom most of the 1.4 million South Africans of Indian origin are descended.

The Truro left Madras (now Chennai) and anchored in Port Natal on November 16, 1860 to start off the arrival of thousands of Indians until the last ship, the Umlazi, in 1911.

“This is in honor of those gallant Indian pioneers, our forefathers and mothers who, due in large part to economic hardship so many decades ago, made a difficult but conscious choice to depart the shores of India and set sail into the unknown, across treacherous and unpredictable oceans,” Minister for Public Service and Administration, Roy Padayachie, who launched the stamps said.

The launch incorporated an inter-faith prayer as well as the unveiling of two memorial slabs at the suburb of Belvedere, about 30 km north of Durban, so named after the second ship that brought laborers from India.

The memorial peace slabs bear the names of anti-apartheid icons such as John Langalibalele Dube, the first President of the ANC, Ahmed Timol, Shanti Naidoo, Kader Asmal, Walter and Albertina Sisulu.

Mr. Padayachie said that these slabs were a tribute “to the sacrifices of the indentured Indian laborers and liberation fighters for their immense contribution to build a democratic South Africa we have today.”

He appreciated the indigenous African people for accepting the Indian laborers so that they could stay and make the new country their home for themselves and the generations that followed.

The Minister said that over the decades, the Indian community had made significant contributions to the cultural, social and political life of South Africa, adding to the country's diverse cultures.

Source: The Hindu, dated Nov 29, 2011