Volume 22, Number 6

June 2008

UPCOMING EVENTS

Pittsburgh Area Stamp and Coin Show – Saturday, June 14, 2008; 10:00am to 5:00pm; Wilkins Township Fire Hall, 109 Powell St., (Just off Greensburg Pike) Sponsored by James J. Reeves.  Call 800-701-7091 for more information.

SCOPEX - June 21-22, 2008.  APS Building, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte. Sponsored by: Mt. Nittany Philatelic Society, Contact Chris Swavely, cbswavely@comcast.net; Tel: 814-237-5606. 

Cranberry Stamp and Postcard Show - Sunday, August 10; 10:00am - 4:00pm.  Four Points Sheraton Inn, 910 Sheraton Drive, Cranberry, PA (North of downtown Pittsburgh, at the interchange of I-79 and the PA turnpike) About 8 stamp and cover dealers from the local area, good selections, a nice program.  Sponsored by Sandra & Jan Harris.  Call 412-851-1674 for more information.

New Issues

Mount Rushmore – June 6

On June 6, 2008, in McLean, Virginia, the Postal Service will issue a $4.80, Mount Rushmore (Priority Mail) definitive stamp in one design in a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps.  The stamp designed by Carl T. Herrman of Carlsbad, California, goes on sale nationwide June 6, 2008.  This stamp features an original drawing of Mount Rushmore National Memorial by Dan Cosgrove of Chicago, Illinois.  Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota near the town of Keystone. Carved into Mount Rushmore itself, the monument consists of large-scale sculptures of the faces of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.  According to a 1929 budget document, the monument was intended “to commemorate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States.”  First day address:

MOUNT RUSHMORE PRIORITY MAIL

POSTMASTER

6841 ELM STREET

MCLEAN VA 22101-9998

All orders must be postmarked by August 5, 2008.  There are three philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

• First Day Cover — $5.18.
• First Day Cover Keepsake — $101.18.
• First Day Cover Pre-Paid Priority Mail Envelope — $5.18.

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Tiffany Lamp – June 7

On June 7, 2008, in McLean, Virginia, the Postal Service will issue a 1-cent, Tiffany Lamp definitive stamp in one design in a water-activated gum (WAG) coil of 3,000 stamps. The stamp, designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, goes on sale nationwide June 7, 2008.  The stamp was previously issued in the following formats:

• March 1, 2003, WAG, coil of 3,000 stamps.
• March 16, 2007, PSA pane of 20 stamps.
• March 7, 2008, PSA pane of 20 stamps.

First day address:

TIFFANY LAMP

POSTMASTER

6841 ELM STREET

MCLEAN VA 22101-9998

All orders must be postmarked by August 6, 2008.  There is one philatelic product available for this stamp issue:  First Day Cover — $0.80.

Prepaid Priority Mail Flat-Rate Stamped Envelope – May 12

The Postal Service will issue a new Priority Mail Flat-Rate Envelope on May 12, 2008, in Kansas City, Missouri. The new product features the $4.80 Mount Rushmore stamp image printed directly on the envelope along with standard Priority Mail graphics.  There is one philatelic product available for this stamp issue:  Canceled Prepaid Priority Mail Flat- Rate Stamped Envelope with the first day of issue postmark — $5.18.

Upcoming Issues this Summer

Italy Produced the First Airmail Stamp

Italy C1	This first flight cover flown from Turin to Rome in 1917 using the first airmail stamp recently sold on eBay for $37.25

The honor of producing the world's first official airmail postage stamp goes to the of the mail by air.  The Italian Front had degraded to a war of attrition. The first nine Battles of the Isonzo in 1916 had taken a terrific toll, with about 70,000 Italian soldiers killed for virtually no gain of territory. Another 76,000 would die in the spring and summer offensives of 1917. The Italian government was worried that German and Austro-Hungarian submarines would cut off contact with Sicily and Sardinia by sea. It decided to try an experimental airmail flight over land between Rome and Turin to test the feasibility of maintaining contact with the islands by air. While there had been a number of other experimental airmail flights since beginning in 1911, none had used official airmail stamps to pay for the service.

The world's first airmail stamp, Italy Scott C1 was created by overprinting "ESPERIMENTO POSTA AEREA MAGGIO 1917 TORINO-OMA o ROMA-TORINO" on the 25-centesimo rose-red King Victor Emmanuel III special delivery stamp. The overprint was applied to 200,000 stamps. The overprinted airmail stamps went on sale in Rome and Turin on May 16, with a limit of three to a customer. Italian Air Force pilot Tenente Mario de Bernardi was assigned to make the flight. Originally scheduled for May 19, it was postponed because of bad weather. The first leg, Rome to Turin, took place May 22, with the return flight on May 27. The plane, an Italian Air Force Pomilio PC-1 reconnaissance aircraft, carried 480 pounds of mail, mostly specially prepared commemorative cards and 200 newspapers. Most of the mail was postmarked May 20. Obviously only a tiny fraction of the 200,000 airmail stamps were used for this first flight. The stamps remained on sale from the post office until just before WWII.

The Man and His Mutinies

by Napoleon

When Captain William Bligh comes up in conversation, it almost always is in relation to the mutiny on HMS Bounty, shown on both the 2d and 6d values of the 1940 issue of Pitcairn Island. The 1940 Pitcairn stamps relate to the Bounty mutiny and were the easiest ones to find for this article on the three major mutinies with which Bligh was involved.  Bligh and the Bounty both appear on the 2d, and Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny, appears with Pitcairn scenes on the 1d, 1sh, and 2sh/6d denominations. Starting with James Michener’s Rascals in Paradise article, “Bligh, Man of Mutinies,” let’s concentrate on the 3d stamp. It shows a map of the Pacific from Australia to Easter Island, with Tahiti and Pitcairn both illustrated. 

The Bounty mutiny, the first of four mentioned by Michener, occurred April 28, 1789, as the ship left the friendly natives of Tahiti and headed for the West Indies. Michener writes: Bligh himself knew he was of a choleric nature, but attributed his righteous anger to zeal for efficiency in service ... surprising as it may seem, he was always anxious for the comfort and happiness of the men under his command.  Fletcher Christian, mate in charge of one of the three watches into which Bligh divided the crew, apparently decided to take a ship’s boat and desert.  The reasons for Christian’s decision may have included both an attachment for a Tahitian girl and offense at derogatory language Bligh used toward Christian in a fit of anger. Christian’s watch was scheduled for midnight duty. Christian ended up convincing the watch to seize the ship, which was done with little trouble. Bligh and another eighteen men were put in the ship’s launch and began a 3,618-mile, forty-one day trip to Timor, losing only one man on the way.  Christian and the other twenty-three mutineers sailed back to Tahiti. Fearing punishment, Christian and seven other mutineers sailed Bounty to previously undiscovered Pitcairn Island. Sixteen mutineers stayed on in Tahiti, where two died and the Royal Navy captured fourteen. Meanwhile, Bligh had been found innocent of the loss of the ship at a court martial (one of five in which he was defendant). Of the fourteen sailors captured in Tahiti, four died in a shipwreck on their way to England, four were acquitted, three were sentenced to death but pardoned, and three were executed. Only one surviving mutineer was alive when Pitcairn was discovered twenty years after the mutiny.  

The next major mutiny involving Bligh was that of the British fleet at Nore, England on May 12, 1797.  The Nore mutiny followed one at Spithead, England.  While sailors had legitimate concerns — pay, food, and punishment — the mutiny took place during a war with Holland, not a time when the British Navy would take a mutiny calmly. The mutineers on Bligh’s ship, the Director, forced the departure of three officers for ill-using the men, but Bligh was not one of the three. Bligh remained onboard and in command for another week before being forced ashore. After the mutiny, Bligh was not removed from command, as he would have been had undue harshness on his part led to the mutiny on his ship, per Michener.  

Bligh’s last major mutiny took place in Australia.  Bligh l eft England in February 1805 to serve as civilian governor of the growing penal colony of New South Wales. Bligh had resigned his active naval commission to serve as governor, but that did not deter him from challenging the authority of the convoy commander. At one point, the convoy commander had to fire a shot across the bows of the ship transporting Bligh and another across the stern to bring the transport back on course. Bligh’s time in Australia was made especially challenging by John Macarthur, a large landholder of flexible morals, and by the New South Wales Corps, the army troops assigned to serve as warders, police, and military forces for the colony.  While in New South Wales, Bligh was told to enact two particular reforms: suppress the rum trade and replace the rum-based barter economy with a currency-based economy. As the officers of the New South Wales Corps were making fortunes from the rum trade, both reforms created incentives for the Corps to hinder Bligh. John Macarthur gave the Corps an excuse to mutiny against Bligh. In January 1808, six Corps officers were serving as judges in a case in which Macarthur was the defendant. The officers proclaimed their plan to hear the case despite the absence of Richard Atkins, judge advocate. Judge Atkins reported to Bligh that the officers’ actions amounted to usurpation of the government and incitement to rebellion. Bligh called the officers to appear before him and explain their actions, and he also asked the acting commander of the Corps for assistance. The end result was that the acting commander arrested Bligh at Macarthur’s request.  It was not until December 1809 that London sent a successor to Sydney. Bligh took ship for London in April 1810. The acting commander of the Corps was convicted of mutiny. Macarthur, who had gone to England to organize the acting commander’s defense, was forced to remain in exile for eight years by the threat of arrest for treason. Bligh was exonerated, restored to his former naval rank and promptly promoted.  

But Macarthur bested Bligh philatelically in Australia. In 1934 Australia issued three stamps picturing a Merino sheep. The trio honored the “father of the New South Wales woolen industry,” John Macarthur, who developed the Merino breed. As of 1940, Australia had yet to picture Bligh on any of its postage stamps.

Bibliography:

Michener, James and Grove A. Day, Rascals in

Paradise (New York: Random House, 1957).