POSTCARD N.189 -  BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Postcard sent on the 15th May; received on the 1st October 2025.

Postcard image: Tristan da Cunha, Innaccessible Island; thumbnails: Tristan Albatros, Sooty albatros, Innaccesible rail  

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Quite fitting that on World Postcard Day I should receive such an wonderful postcard from such an uncommon place as the one I got thanks to the offices of my good friend The Flying Dutchman. O meu muito obrigado Eric! Que surpresa fantástica!

There are remote places, and then there is the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago, midway between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn....

While the archipelago comprises a total of six islands, only one, the largest, Tristan da Cunha, is inhabited, although a rather small contingent of six persons is also permanently placed in the island of Gonçalo Alvares (also called Gaugh Island), manning a meteorological station.

This is the second postal object I rceived from this farthest of all faraway places, the first being cover #536, and the postcard Eric sent me, really empathises the remoteness and "untouchedness" of the location from the very start since what could be more pristine and remote than an island called "Inaccessible"?

Inaccessible Island in truth is what is left of an extinct volcano and it occupies an area of less than 13 square kilometres, being inhabited only by colonies of  penguins and subantarctic fur seals, thriving in perfect peace for along with Gonçalo Alvares Island the island is  part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, a protected nature reserve.

As can be seen in postcard photo, the few beaches on the island are quite rocky with steep cliffs that seem to rise almost directly from the sea.

Further to the penguins other avian species also inhabit the island and some relevant dwellers are highlighted in the thumbnails. Top to bottom, we have:

- Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena), endemic to the islands, considered to be Critically Endangered by IUCN standards, and one of the largest of the albatross family, with a wingspan that can reach 3.05 metres;

- Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria fusca), an endangered species also of large dimension, with a wingspan of up to 2 metres, which can be found in the South Atlantic Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean between Australia and South America;

- Inaccessible rail (Laterallus rogersi), the smallest of all flightless birds there is, classified as vulnerable, endemic to Inaccessible island.

The ship themed stamps on the postcard are part of a thirteen definitive stamp set issued on 14DEC2020, dedicated to Modern Mail Ships, that serviced the Island. 

The 5p stamp bears the image of the Gilligan Gaggins, operational between 1965 and 1973;

The 1p stamp is illustrated with an image of  the RRS John Biscoe, a supply and research vessel used by the British Antarctic Survey which provided mail services to the island in1957;

The 2 p stamps carries the image of  the S.S. Brasil, an American built ocean liner launched at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi in 1957., which provided mail service to the Island between 1960 and 1965.

The 10 p stamp on the face of the postcard is illustrated with a photo of MV RSA, South Africa's first Antarctic supply ship, a  1572 gross ton vessel, built by the Fujinagata Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, in Osaka, Japan, launched on 28 September 1961. 

According to the date on the stamp, it provided  services to the Islands between 1963 and 1977. 

In 1980 MV RSA was transformed into a static training ship for merchant seamen and it was moored in Cape Town docks. It was later partially scrapped and then sunk, when asbestos was found to be present on it.

The 30p stamp illustrated with an Hawker Hart, the famous Sidney Camm design of 1928 that would father a line of very important, and quite beautiful I may add, biplanes which included the Osprey, the Hind, the Demon, the Hardy, to name but a few, was issued on 01APR2008 included in a 5 x 30 p stamp set celebrating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Air Force (which, upon inception in 1918, was called the Royal Flying Corps).

The Postmark reads "Tristan da Cunha South Atlantic" and is dated of 15May 2025.

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In 1980 MV RSA was transformed into a static training ship for merchant seamen and it was moored in Cape Town docks. It was later partially scrapped and then sunk, when asbestos was found to be present on it.

The 30p stamp illustrated with an Hawker Hart, the famous Sidney Camm design of 1928 that would father a line of very important, and quite beautiful I may add, biplanes which included the Osprey, the Hind, the Demon, the Hardy, to name but a few, was issued on 01APR2008 included in a 5 x 30 p stamp set celebrating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Air Force (which, upon inception in 1918 was called the Royal Flying Corps).

The Postmark reads "Tristan da Cunha South Atlantic" and is dated of 15May 2025.