Inauguration of Niuafo’ou Airport – Tonga Tin Can Mail Study Circle 1983
The Inauguration of Niuafo’ou airport in 1983 marks the end of Tin Can Mail.Tonga issued a set of Four stamps on 11 May 1983 to mark the inauguration of airport.
Tonga Tin Can Mail study Circle issued a First Day Cover with a 29s stamp which has Tin Can Mail Printed on the stamp. This stamp was not part of four stamps issued on airport but printed separately ????.
The Cover is listed. Stamps shows a De Havilland Twin Otter Aircraft.
Tin Can Mail – Centenary – First Day Cover Tonga 1982
Kingdom of Tonga in South Pacific has a large number of Islands and one of them Niuafo’ou is very special in history of Philately and Mail .It is commonly known as Tin Can Mail Island for the way the mail was sent and delivered. The Concept of Tin Can mail was started in 1882 by William Travers when he realized as a plantation manager that he had no means to receive mail from outside world .The Island had no harbour as it was very steep and ships would not come. Then he tied up with Tonga Postal authorities to get the mail thrown overboard the ships in ships Biscuit tins and a swimmer from Island would swim for almost six hours and collect the mail and also deliver the outgoing mail.
Prior to this even Rocket Mail was tried mail fired through a rocket from the ship -but it was not successful.Slowly this Tin Can Mail became popular and ships with passengers would come to see this Mail Delivery system.
Arthur Tindall who traded in his ship and had established Coconut plantation at Niuafoou had a major role in Tin Can Mail (TCM) history. He used ships of Union Steamship company of Auckland to pick and deliver mail from 1902 to 1918. Later Tindall invited Charles Stuart Ramsey who acted as famous ” Swimming mailman of Tin Can Island” for 12 years-112 swims for postal delivery with natives from 1921 onwards.
Niuafo’ou PO cancellation on mail during 1920s was circular date but ramsey did not use any catchet hence not much is known about exact mail dates. However use of of simple cachet “TIN CAN MAIL” & “NIUAFOOU” is known since 1927 after arrival of Walter George Quensell a German trader on the Island.
Ramsey and Quensell became competitors .In April-1931 a swimmer was attacked by a shark and mail delivery by swimmers was suspended and stopped in Jul 1931 . After that delivery resumed as ” Canoe Mail” from Aug 1931 onwards.
Tin Can mail continued till 1946 when a Volcano erupted on the Island and it was evacuated but the period from 1931 -1947 had WWII and other stories. Quensell sent Tin Can mail around the World which are rare and valuable .He died in 1956. This type of mail delivery continued till 1983 when a small airport came up on the Island.
Tonga issued a set of Four stamps on 29 Sep 1982 to mark 100 Years of Tin Can Mail. A First Day Cover with stamps is listed -the cover front and back illustrates a large number of cancellations used on Tin Can mail in those 100 years.
FDC TONGA TIN CAN MAIL CENTENARY 1982FDC TONGA TIN CAN MAIL CENTENARY 1982
Voyages of Saint Brendan – Ireland,The Faroe Islands & Iceland are linked historically by the voyage of Discovery made by Saint Brendan (484-577 AD) hence this joint issue. These voyages are recorded in many medieval manuscripts and in the Icelandic sagas.
Following the fall of Roman empire Irish monasteries had become the chief repositories of religious learning and culture in Europe and Irish monks or saintly sailors began to bring these back to mainland Europe. Many Irish monks also sailed along the coasts of British Isles and Europe and beyond spreading the christian faith and establishing monasteries .These saintly mariners had a knowledge of astronomy to aid their navigation but no charts or compass.
St Brendan was one of these and there are many legends about his voyages. The landing of Irish monks in the Faroe was the first notable geographical discovery of the middle ages and by 795 AD Irsih monks had reached Iceland .In the Brendan legend one of the Faroe Islands is described as the “Island of Sheep “and Iceland as the ” Island of Fire”.
Brendan Discoveries is the theme of three Miniature sheets jointly issued by Faroe Islands ,Iceland & Ireland. A Presentation pack containing all the three miniatures is listed.
Liechtenstein issued a stamp on Europa theme on 06 Sep 1966. The design features a Symbolic Ship which represents CEPT progress on a clam sea. The designers were German brothers Josef and Gregor Brender.
First European to reach India by Sea- Stamps on Vasco Da Gama- Maldives 2015
Vasco Da Gama (1460-1524) became the first European to reach India by when he arrived in Calicut in 1498. Maldives commemorated this event by issuing a stamp and Miniature sheet on 01 Jul 2015.
