Ship Mail and GBLA
Peter Valdner (2015, updated)
Ships have transported billions of letters, but only a few shipping companies have issued their own stamps.
Probably the most famous are stamps of PSNC (Pacific Steam
Navigation Company), which issued stamps in 1847, but were used only in 1857 as the first stamps of Peru. So stamp catalogues list them under Peru.
The stamps show both ships of the company - SS Chile and SS Peru. Nominal values are in Peruvian currency, as the ships usually sailed between Callao in Peru and Valparaiso in Chile.
Very popular are stamps of SS Lady McLeod from 1847, when they were used. They were the first British Commonwealth stamps from overseas. The ship transported mail on the island of Trinidad between the ports of Port of Spain and San Fernando.
Royal Mail
Steam Packet Co.
had several ship lines between 1875 and 1880.
The German HAPAG used them, too.
In Central America, Caye Service in British Honduras from
1895 is the most famous ship mail service.
In South America, there was a postal line (by trains and ships) between Coro and La Vela,
but consignments were transported also to Caribbean islands.
In Australia, Murray Steam Navigation Company used stamps of four nominal values on the Murray river in the states of Victoria and New South Wales since 1869.
Two shipping companies issued stamps on New Hebrides, they are dealt in another article.
In Ottoman Empire, several shipping companies issued stamps. Stamps of Gauthier Fréres from 1856 belong to the most famous and rare ones.
Piroscafi Otomani are from 1858,
Asia
Minor SSCo are from 1868.
In Austria - Hungarian Empire DDSG -
Donaudampfshiffahrtsgesellschaft used stamps from 1866. Of a special interest for ASFE collectors are the Romanian parcel stamps with indicated ship routes. Stamps Braila-Galaz (and back) are from 1870, combinations of ports Kalaras, Ostrov and Silistria from 1874.
ZSGT – Zala-Somogy gőzhajó társaság sailed on the Balaton Lake in Hungary probably in 1872.
Wanajavesi Angbatsbolag sailed in Finland. Issued were three red stamps for a line between ports of Tammerfors
and Tavastehus on May 1, 1867. Later reprints are in orange colour.
Similar stamps were issued for Ile Roy, an island in the Saone river in France. The shipping route linked it with Lyon and Barbe island. These stamps are Cinderellas, see the article Spacefillers.
Marquis Jouffroy d’Abbans, mentioned in the document above, constructed and used the Pyroscaphe, the first paddle steamer. Previously he had constructed also the Palmipede, where the engine moved oars equipped with rotating blades, which was a failed project.
In the Suez Canal, four stamps, issued in Paris, were in use for 40 days in 1868. Then their use was prohibited by Egyptian authorities.
GBLA (Great Bitter Lake Association) was issuing stamps from 1967 to 1975. They were printed on the fourteen trapped ships, transported by boats to the Nordwind, where they were cancelled. Then the consignments were taken by boats usually to the port of Fanara, from where they were transported to Egyptian post offices and further abroad.
For ASFE collectors it is important that except for the abbreviation GBLA, stamps bear also other names, mostly of ships and ship groups. Few dozens exist, I write a book with details on them. Many of the stamps are rather hard to find after so many years.
To my fellow ASFE collectors I recommend to find stamps, named GBLA, LEDNICE, and the ship groups LEDMELAGA, DJABIPORST/DJAKBIER and
MUWINIKI(ES). With most of them I can be helpful.
Just be careful, worthless imitations, pretending to be GBLA stamps, exist, too.
And to the end the usual request - if you have and/or collect GBLA stamps, drop me a line, please.
Sources: Internet and archives of the author
Contact: valdpete@yahoo.com
Sources: Internet and archives of the author
Contact: valdpete@yahoo.com
