COVER N. 566 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office - Main Office ?.03.2025 

Posted on the ? March; Received on the 18th March 2025

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Seems that the Flying Dutchman on its errant journeys across the seas has recently passed by the Rock 😀. Muito obrigado, Eric! Um abraço.

The theme of the 2020 CEPT/EUROPA common issue was "Ancient Postal Routes".

For the occasion, Gibraltar Post Office chose to celebrate  the contribution of two 19th century vessels that ensured mail services between the small peninsula and the rest of the world, issuing, on 08MAY2020, the souvenir sheet used on the cover .

The £ 1.66 stamp is illustrated with the image of the ‘Lady Mary Wood’ , launched in 1842, while the £2.86 stamp bears the image of  the ‘SS Iberia’, launched in 1836.

Detailed information on both vessels, the property of the bicentenary Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), founded in 1822, can be found in the release notes for the stamps which can be consulted here.

COVER N. 401 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office Main office 19.01.24

Posted on the 19th January; Received on the 31st January 2024

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Almost one year ago I received a cover from Gibraltar sent by one of the usual suspects on this blog - Muito Obrigado, Eric! - which had a couple of stamps dedicated to the man that led the UK through a war that would shape the world for the next sixty or so years... and I put it that way because I feel that ever since the last turn of the century, world order has been reshaping itself, adapting, changing…

Where this will lead us it is still a mystery, but, once again, mouldy winds are blowing, hate as a weapon is on the rise, demagogy, populism... and I am not talking about one of those black and white news films produced by Rivus Pathé,  or any other agency, that would run before the day feature film at the local theatre, when I was a lad, but about of what I see every day on TV....

Lest we forget... a phrase coined by Kippling which  could be seen in memorials... poems... remembrance writings ever since the first world war...

have we forgotten?....

Yesterday, Mr Postman delivered this great Gibraltar cover, again courtesy of the Flying Dutchman, which contains the companion set to the above souvenir sheet  on cover 244, issued on 25MAR2020 in celebration of the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

The stamps, illustrated with period photographs highlighting all the main branches of the British military forces - Navy, Army and Air Force - also carry each a Letter which, when aligned in sequence, form the phrase V E DAY.

The stamps are cancelled with the postmark of the main Post Office at Gibraltar.

COVER N. 305 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office Main office 17.08.23

Posted on the 17th August; Received on the 29th August 2023

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Thanks to Alex, I can add another Cover to the folder of "the Rock".

Another aircraft carrier... after the Bearn... although almost a century separates them both. 

This time it is HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of the two state of the art aircraft carriers currently operated by the Royal Navy, of which it is the Fleet flagship.

HMS Queen Elizabeth was commissioned on 2017, two years before its sister sheep, HMS Prince of Wales, the second carrier of the Queen Elizabeth class.

The vessel has a total crew of 679 (excluding personnel allocated to the operation of the aircraft of its air wing) and can also transport up to 900 troops.

HMS Queen Elizabeth air wing operates a mix of 40 fixed and rotary wing aircraft, including F-35B Lightning STOVL multirole fighter aircraft and Chinook, Apache, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters.

On the occasion of  the first visit of HMS Queen Elizabeth to Gibraltar, which took place on the 9th February 2018, the postal administration of the territory issued, on 10MAY2028, the 3 Pound stamp on the cover, illustrated with an image of the aircraft carrier as it sails past the promontory that guards the entrance to the Mediterranean sea.

COVER N. 244 - British Overseas Territories - Gibraltar 

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office - Main Office - 30.03.2023 

Posted on the 30th March; Received on the 2nd May 2023
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I have said here that some people should be Honoris Causa members of my humble blog, for all the care and attention they contribute in the form of sundry covers from the most unexpected places. 

Eric is another such case. I've lost track of how many times I wrote him just to say  "Thank You" for yet another outstanding addition to my herbarium of letters.

Although he is geographically much closer to me that his family name would lead me to believe, we have never met and we’ve exchanged but some short email messages. This hasn't kept him from making sure that my list of countries and territories keeps growing at a steady pace, many a time due to his overgenerous contributions. 

Such incredible generosity humbles me and I do try to reciprocate as often as possible, but it isn't easy to be at the same level....

This last batch of covers bearing his ... aura?  (for some of them don't even have sender information) is as diverse as it could be and all great additions as usual, Again, all I can say is  "Muito Obrigado, Eric!"

Gibraltar... the Rock, the place where you have to wait for the traffic light to turn green to cross an airport's runway, if you want to go to town.... right in front of Algeciras, with the larger than life statue of larger than life Paco de Lucia next to the port, turning his back on his Majesty's subjects while filling the city with the unforgettable fire of his incomparable "rasgueados" .... 

Irrespective of who is right, (and I won't go there, since it seems the question  is a really complex affair) the notion of "Overseas Territories" in the 21st century, for me, a citizen of what was once an empire also, sounds awkward, to say the least.... mainly because it'll will never cease to be paired with the notion of "Empire" itself .... 

This reminds me  that the term "Imperial", in the southern half of the Portuguese rectangle, has quite a different connotation, not even being an adjective, but a noun.

Maybe one day, the Prime-ministers of both monarchies may come to a definitive agreement over a couple of Portuguese cold and bubbling "Imperiais", for such is the name we give to a well drafted half-pint on any bar, tavern or restaurant in town!

Cheers!

Stamps, left to right:

- The theme of the 1882 EUROPA stamp issues was "Historic Events"

Gibraltar issued two stamps on 11JUN1982 (14 and 17 p) highlighting the role of the Rock in the building up of Operation Torch, the invasion of the then French North Africa.

The one on my cover evokes the episode of the meeting of Generals Henri Giraud and Dwight Eisenhower in Gibraltar, when the former was invited by the latter to be the commander of the French troops for the operation, something Giraud refused at first, because he thought that the operation should be commanded by a Frenchman (himself).

This notwithstanding, after the assassination of the appointed commander, General Darlan,  Giraud would  assume this role,  effectively becoming the Commander of the French Forces in North Africa.

The companion stamp is illustrated with what looks like spitfires and probably hurricanes, highlighting the strategic role of Gibraltar not only for Operation Torch, bus also has a sentinel guarding the entry of the Mediterranean.

- Winston Churchill needs no introducing.

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the 8th May, on 25MAR2020, Gibraltar Post issued a five stamp and one souvenir sheet set, evocative of the date.

The 4£ souvenir sheet can be seen on my cover  with a photography of Winston making his famous V sign to the crowd from a balcony in Whitehall, on the 8th May 1945. Little did he know that coming the next elections....

Winston Churchil is also featured on another stamp on the cover, part of a five stamp set (22; 64; 70 and 80 p) issued on 20MAR2015, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Churchill's death. 

Winston here is depicted inspecting what looks like Willys jeeps on a port...  a photo related with the invasion of France, I would say, but I'm just guessing.

The last stamp - 19 p - on the cover is part of the 1983 EUROPA issue, themed on "Great Achivements of Human Genious", which saw the light of day on 21MAY1983.

It depicts the "water catchment slopes" that from 1903 to 1991 insured that rain falling on the sand slopes on the east side of the promontory, covered with corrugated iron sheets, would be collected  so as to supply water to the inhabitants since no other sources of the precious liquid were at the time available. In 1991, desalinisation plants began to operate and the area has been renaturalised, restoring the old habitats.

The companion stamp on this two stamp set was used by Eric on another covr he had sent me before, and can be seen here.

The letter was registered, hence the high postage and the "registered" sticker.

COVER N.162 - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office Main Office 25.AUG.2022 
Posted on 25th August; received on the 9th September 2022
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I've wrote here of how I was surprised by a cover from Eric coming from the Faroe Islands, after I got another one from him from Albania; well, he continues to surprise me, this time with a beautiful cover, full of exciting goodies, from the only the place I know that has a traffic light on the shoulder of the airport runway....the Rock that guards the straight, the only place in  Europe with wild monkeys: Gibraltar. 

Thank you so much, Eric. I truly appreciated it. The more so since I can now tick another box in the list of stamp emitting countries and territories. 

Gibraltar is one of those places that makes you wonder... not only for the seemingly eternal geopolitical issues that gravitate around the rocky promontory, which in the wake of Brexit will at some point rekindle,  but also because  of its geonatural uniqueness, of which the celebrated monkeys or the fact that it is one of the world's hot spots for birdwatchers, due to its startegic location as an open air auditorium to watch the great bird migrations between Africa and Europe, are probably the most famous features.

Gibraltar is also the place, I found, where machines work for themselves:  I've been to the rock many years ago, when my girls were still pre-teens.Marta, the youngest of the two,  was passing by a Coca-cola vending machine and for some reason patted it. Maybe because the machine recognised her as a gentle and kind soul, maybe because someone had forgotten to hit the button after dropping the coin in, maybe (as I firmly believe) because, as in  the Moody Blues Album title "Every good boy - or girl, I add - deserves favour - the machine  responded to Marta’s act of affection with some internal noises that caught our attention and lo and behold.... on the retrieving drawer an ice cold can of Cola suddenly materialised.

The irony of it was that Marta didn't like Coca-Cola, but it was the middle of August, hot as hell, so the remaining three of us were very happy to share this gift from....above?  😀

Stamps, left to right:

On  14SEP2013, Gibraltar Post issued a six stamp set, all with a face value of 42 pence,  dedicated to endangered animal species.

On my cover we can see two of these stamps, featuring the Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis)....

With a distribution that is today restricted to the province of Anhui, as well as possibly the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in China, the species is classified by the IUCN as critically endangered, its population in the wild numbering some 300 individuals as of 2017.

... and the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), 

This amazing creature is distributed along all the oceans of the world which it constantly roams through. I once witnessed  just etched little leatherbacks and loggerheads (Caretta caretta) being taken by the bucketful at night, as close to the sea line as possible to enhance their chances of survival, on a beach in the Yucatan peninsula, in Mexico. I was allowed to take one of the leatherbacks out of the bucket and take it myself to lay it on the sand and watch the little thing as she paddled her way through the sand into the water. Survival rate is very low, only 1 in 1,000 reaches adulthood, but who knows, she might be swimming across the ocean, as I type...

the last stamp on the cover is part of the 1983 EUROPA issue, themed on Inventions. Gibraltar, on 21MAY1983, issued two stamps (16p and 19p) the lower value one, on my cover, depicting St. George's Wall, a complex of caverns excavated on the rock to serve as bunkers for coastal defence batteries, and the 19p stamp, illustrated with the water catchments created on the rock face to capture rainwater since there is no phreatic or any other source of inland water on the promontory.