A set of five stamps depicting various periods in Malta’s colourful maritime history over a 450-year span, from sail to steam, and from bronze guns to guided missiles, is being issued by the Philatelic Bureau of Maltapost on 18 August.
The stamps were designed by Francis X. Ancilleri and are offset printed by Printex Limited of Qormi on Maltese Crosses watermarked paper. The stamps come in a size of 44.0mm x 31.0mm, with a perforation of 13.9 x 14 (comb), and are available in sheets of ten.
8c stamp – on 26 October, 1530 Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle Adam of the Sovereign Military Order of St John arrived with 4,000 knights in three galleys, Santa Croce, San Filippo and San Giovanni, as overlords of the Maltese Islands which had been presented to them by the Emperor Charles V. Malta was destined to become a secure base for the Order’s naval operations against the Turks. The knights at the time sailed one of the largest carracks, the Sant’ Anna, frequently referred to as the Gran Caracca of Rodi, which had a fighting complement of 300 besides 400 infantry and cavalry. This three-masted ship had a hull that tapered above the waterline and large castles fore and aft, as shown in this 16th century painting exhibited at the Sanctuary Museum at Zabbar. She was destroyed in a fire a few years after the arrival of the Order in Malta.
29c stamp – the French 84-gun Guillaume Tell escaped from the Battle of the Nile to seek shelter in Valletta after the defeat by Admiral Horatio Nelson of the French fleet in Aboukir Bay. The French in Valletta were being besieged by the Maltese insurgents and the ships of the British Navy were maintaining a blockade to ensure none of the French warships sailed for France. Guillaume Tell was refitted and attempted to escape during the night of 29-30 March, 1800 with some of the garrison’s sick and wounded. She was engaged in daylight by the 44-gun frigate HMS Penelope which fought a delaying action until joined by the 64-gun Lion and the 80-gun Foudroyant which dismasted the French vessel, as depicted in this painting by Edwin Galea. She was towed to Syracuse for repairs, and joined the British Fleet as HMS Malta.
51c stamp – the USS Constitution first put to sea on 22 July, 1798 – and she is still in service with the United States Navy. Affectionately referred to as Old Ironsides, this three-masted frigate is open to visitors at Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston. In July 1997 she put to sea under sail after an extensive refit and overhaul to celebrate her 200th anniversary. In this painting by J.G. Evans, which hangs at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, she is dressed overall in celebration of the birthday of George Washington in 1837, when she was in the Mediterranean as flagship of the American naval squadron.
76c stamp – HMS Dreadnought was the first all-big-gun battleship which revolutionised design and construction when she was launched in 1906, a hundred years ago. The warship was conceived by Vice-Admiral Jacky Fisher when commanding the Mediterranean Fleet. Vice-Admiral Fisher prepared his first sketches of this revolutionary ship with W.H. Gard, chief constructor at the Malta Dockyard in 1900. Dreadnought was superior in both fire power and speed to any warship then afloat. She spent only a short time in the Mediterranean and is shown here leaving Grand Harbour in November 1913 in this photograph by Richard Ellis.
Lm1 stamp – the guided missiles frigate USS Belknap and the guided missiles cruiser Slava of the Soviet Navy provided the communications support for the meeting between President George Bush of the United States and President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union on 2-3 December, 1989 which ended the Cold War. Moored close to each other in Marsaxlokk Bay, the two warships rode stormy seas when the island was hit by a gale. Belknap was commissioned on 7 November, 1964 and was retired from the Navy in February 1993. She was sunk as a target in February 1998. Slava entered service in January 1983 and was then the first Soviet warship to visit Malta after the end of World War Two. She was later extensively refurbished, renamed Moskva when the Soviet Navy was apportioned between the new states of the Russian Confederation and again visited Malta as flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet for the anniversary of the island’s commemoration of independence in September 2004.
This beautifully designed set will be available from all Maltapost postal retail outlets in Malta and Gozo and from the Philatelic Bureau of Maltapost, as a First Day Cover, in mint or cancelled formats, and as a souvenir folder and presentation pack. Additional details about this and forthcoming issues are obtainable from the Philatelic Bureau (tel. 2123 9153, e-mail [email protected]), or from the Maltapost website www.maltapost.com.