After World War I, seaborne trade enjoyed a boom that provided an opportunity for a short-lived renaissance of the building of sailing vessels in Åland. The largest Åland peasant shipping company of the inter-war period was Varvs- & Rederi Ab Viking founded in Saltvik in 1917. Three-masted schooner Vineta was the only new-building of the company, and she was launched in November 1919. Having sailed the Baltic and North Seas for eight years, she ran aground in a winter storm and wrecked just off Swedish island of Gotland. In the same year 1927, the Viking company was dissolved when the board deemed the era of smaller sailing ships over. The artist’s illustration of Vineta, with rain-soaked sails in a dead calm, being overhauled by a fully loaded steamship, is a reminder of the new times.
Four-masted barque Parma is famous for having made the fastest ever voyage in the 1900s from Australia to England; in 1933, the passage to England took only 83 days with Captain de Cloux at the rudder. In 1931, the captain had formed one of the last co-ownerships of Åland to acquire Parma from shipowner F. Laeisz of Hamburg. She was built in Glasgow in 1902 as Arrow. On the stamp, Allan has illustrated Parma on her record passage, sails unfurled and making 12-15 knots heading for the Cape Horn. The sailing era of the ship ended abruptly following an accident in Glasgow in 1936.
Also available are two maximum cards featuring traditional ship’s portraits and a set of collector’s sheetswith background information about each vessel as well as the stamps in first day cancelled condition. An album holding all previously issued collector’s sheets in this stamp series may be ordered from Åland Post Stamps. The limited edition is 1500 albums.
Vineta
The stamp featuring the schooner Vineta is part of a 6-year sailing ship series that also includes stamps featuring the schooner Leo and the barquentine Lemland (2015), the brig Altai and the barque Pehr Brahe (2016), full-rigged clipper Mermerus and the barque Mariehamn (2017), full-rigged clipper Albania and the schooner Atlas (2018) and 4-masted barque Parma (2019). The series will be completed in 2020.
Parma
The stamp featuring 4-masted barque Parma is part of a 6-year sailing ship series that also includes stamps featuring the schooner Leo and the barquentine Lemland (2015), the brig Altai and the barque Pehr Brahe (2016), full-rigged clipper Mermerus and the barque Mariehamn (2017), full-rigged clipper Albania and the schooner Atlas (2018) and the schooner Vineta (2019). The series will be completed in 2020.
