COVER N. 499 - FRANCE- DROM-COM - TAAF - TERRES AUSTRALES ET ANTARCTIQUES FRANÇAISES

Postmark: Ille Europa - Illes Eparses 01.07.2024

Posted on the 1st July; Received on the 16th August 2024

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I love to receive mail from France's Overseas Territories, because the stamps are usually nothing short of works of art. The more so when the covers originate at the Southern and  Antarctic Lands, since further to the lovely stamp(s) the envelopes are always embellished with nice cachet, thus making each cover a rather unique item in the collection.

Un grand merci, Roland, pour ce très beau pli.

Ships, ancient or modern, are a common theme on France's TAFF Stamps. Not a surprising statement given that sea fairing vessels have always played a vital role in the relation of France with the very scarcely inhabited territories (a few tens of scientists at most, I believe), be it at the time of their discovery, or today as the main vehicle for supplying the scientific bases with goods and personnel.

Corvette La Dauphine, was  a 3 mast (like all corvettes are, if you do not consider those produced by Chevrolet... 😀) 4 gun corvette built in 1773.

La Dauphine was part of the fleet captained by  Yves de Kerguelen-Trémarec ( the discoverer, in 1772, of the islands that would be named after him as the Kerguelen islands), on his second expedition in search of the Terra Australis, in 1773. It was during this same mission that Kerguelen-Trémarec discovered the Illes Nuageuses, a group of islands also part of the Kerguelen Archipelago. 

But not only glory is  written down on La Deauphine Currriculum, since in 1774, Kerguelen-Trémarec order it to go to Madagascar, to be involved in  the slave trade.

In 1976, though, la Deauphine would be instrumental in the rescue operation of a group of slaves that had been left stranded on Tromelin Island by the crew of the ship that had transported them and which was wrecked. Of the 160 abandoned people, only 7 women and a 6 month child were alive to be  saved by the crew of la Deauphine.

On 02JAN2024, la Poste issued the very nice 1,65 € stamp with and engraving of La Deauphine, as she sailed the Indian ocean waters to rescue the stranded slaves at Tromelin Island, who can be seen waiving frantically from the shoreline to the crew on board the ship.

The Postmark was applied at Europe island, one of the "Scattered Islands", and further to the coordinates of the place where the postmark was applied, the cover also carries the cachet of the Postmaster of Europa.