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.

COVER N. 536 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Postmark: Tristan da Cunha South Atlantic 17.09.2024

Posted on the 17th September; Received on the 28th November 2024

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Of all the remote inhabited places, this is said to be the remotest. Tristan da Cunha (or Tristão da Cunha, to put it right according to the nationality of the Portuguese sailor/explorer who first set eyes on the archipelago, in 1506, and chose to name it after his own self) is a group of 6 islands located in the South Atlantic, some 2800 km to the West of the African continent.

And if proof of its remoteness was needed, it would suffice to say that the circuit  which the letter I now received initiated is dated of February 2023, the day when Roland probably sent the letter to the postal services of the Archipelago in order to have it dispatched to me.... that is, 1 year and 9 months ago....

This notwithstanding, the journey from Tristan da Cunha to Portugal was rather swift, since it only took two and a half months.

I couldn't be more happy for having the opportunity to add this interesting piece to my collection. Mon très grand Merci, Roland, por cette surprise magnifique!

I can't even think of how living on such a remote place must be challenging, in a number of ways. The more so since up to 2003, I read, foreigners were not allowed to establish themselves on the island (and thus contribute to some genetic refreshment of the population, who share but nine family names). 

I remember, as a child, living in an Island with not that much population and few services (no television, no education past the 9th grade, no surgeries in the hospital, temporary absence of some food items, especially in the winter, whet the seas were rough and the island could not be supplied by ship, and so on) but we were but 1300 km from the continent AND we had an airport, what meant but a couple of hours flight to the mainland, something which, I understand, Tristan da Cunha, which lies more than double the distance from the continent, does not have.... and I don’t think there is any existing helicopter with that kind of range….

Still our species is composed of decidedly resilient beings and we can adapt to a vast number of  challenging living conditions, the more so when technology can really help bridge distances, but nonetheless there has to be a moment when all that remoteness exerts a tremendous pressure on you... I think of myself at 18 or 19, interraling through Europe; the ease with which my daughters now fly from here to the place they want to go to or visit.... no rail services in Tristan da Cunha... no low cost flights either....

Stamps, on par with lobster, are the most important sources of revenue from external commerce for Tristan da Cunha Administration, and the themes chosen for the issues do mostly reflect a connection with natural history or the history of the islands or its affiliation with the British Crown.

The 45 p stamp on the left is part of set of 4 stamps issued on 14JULY2021,  part of the "Shark" series, which add also another four stamp issue in 2020. 

The stamp is illustrated with a photo of a Bluntnose Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus griseus), a species which can be found in temperate and tropical waters all over the world and can measure up to 6 metres in length.

Ships play an important part on Tristan da Cunha life, as its main connection with the rest of the world. As such it is not surprising that this is also a theme quite well represented in the archipelago's issues.

The 10 p stamp is part of a thirteen definitive stamp set issued on 14DEC2020, dedicated to Modern Mail Ships. it 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.

Further to the very clear local Postmark, the cover is marred by un unfortunate mechanical cancellation, applied probably somewhere in the UK, while in transit to Portugal.