France 1935 - Bon Voyage

A crowd of fifty thousand had gathered to witness the event. The location: Le Havre, France. The date: 29 May 1935. The stage was set for a record-breaking maiden voyage across the Atlantic. The prize for a record-breaking crossing was the coveted Blue Riband. The French ocean liner SS Normandie had been advertised as the fastest ship afloat. Her state-of-the-art turbo-electric propulsion system was the first of its kind. Now all the ship had to do was prove itself worthy of the high acclaim.

To celebrate this monumental event, France issued a lovely stamp featuring SS Normandie on 23 April 1935, a little over a month before the event. The stamp was designed and engraved by Albert Decaris. (Check out my blog post that studies the SS Normandie and the commemorative stamp in detail HERE). As an extra treat, a special machine cancel was created to be used on the date of the maiden voyage to mark the occasion. Covers bearing a Normandie stamp and cancelled with special machine cancel are a great addition to any Albert Decaris collection. 

To date I only have one cover with a Normandie stamp and maiden voyage cancel. It is not the most glamorous cover in the world, but I have it purely for the cancel.

Here is another example of the postmark on a cover I purchased, but has not arrived yet.

So you may be wondering if SS Normandie succesfully broke the Atlantic crossing record and won the coveted Blue Riband? Well, the answer is yes! She surely did. The previous record of 4 days, 13 hours, 58 minutes was held by the Italian liner SS Rex, set in 1933. SS Normandie smashed that record by ten hours, arriving in New York after 4 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes. This record was broken a year later by Queen Mary. Then in 1937 Normandie won it back again! The two great liners had quite a rivalry.

Until next time...

I Found... Another 1935 Decaris Stamp

Just when I thought I had found and catalogued all of Albert Decaris' early stamps, up pops an issue in which I had no idea he was involved. The issue in question was for French Guiana to commemorate the Tercentenary of the Founding of French Possessions in the West Indies (try saying that one three times fast!). This issue comprises six stamps and it was released on 21 October 1935. There are two designs in this set, one of which was engraved by Albert Decaris.

As you may already be aware, 1935 was an auspicious year for Albert Decaris. It was the year the first and second of his engraved stamps were issued, both for France. Click HERE Well, now we have a third! The issue dates of the three stamps are:

• Normandie: issued 23 April
• St. Trophime: issued 7 May
• Tercentenary: issued 21 October

As you can well imagine, once I found out about this set I went online to try to source a copy for myself. Despite the fact that my Scott catalogue lists all three stamps for $14.75 US, I wasn't able to find the three at anywhere near that price. So I am going to have to purchase them individually. I have found all three, but so far I have only purchased one.

So what does this design look like, I hear you ask? Below is an image of the one value I have purchased, the 50c value.

There are two other values in this design: 40c and 1.50f.

1935

Year Set.

France

Normandie

Issued 23 April

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Cloister of St. Trophime

Issued 2 May

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French Guiana

Tercentenary of the Founding of French Possessions in the West Indies
Issued 21 October

40c Grey Brown

Image Forthcoming

50c Red

1, 50f Ultramarine

Image Forthcoming

Church of St. Trophime

The first ever stamp engraved by Albert Decaris was a lovely little design capturing some of the exquisite details of the cloister of the Church of St. Trophime in Arles, France. This stamp however was not the first Decaris stamp issued! The S.S. Normandie stamp discussed in an earlier blog holds those honours. The Normandie stamp was issued 23 April 1935, whereas the St. Trophime stamp was issued on 2 May, less than two weeks later. Perhaps he worked on the engravings at the same time and issue dates were chosen to reflect the subject matter. Well, it's a theory, anyway...

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The Church of St. Trophime was built in the 12th century, and it seems work in various forms was done at the site up to the 15th century. For instance the church cloister was completed in the early parts of the 13th century. At the time construction began on the church, Arles was the second largest city in Provence. It boasted a bustling port on the Rhone that dated back to Roman times. It was visited by many religious orders including the famous Knights Templar.

So who was the bloke the church was named after? According to church tradition, Pope Fabian sent out seven bishops to various locales to preach the gospels. One of these bishops was Trophime, and his destination was Arles, France. Here is a statue of the man in question...

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Now on to the stamp...

As I mentioned earlier the stamp was issued 2 May 1935. This stamp was both designed and engraved by Albert Decaris. The subject of the stamp is a beautiful pillar decoration from the cloister of the church. I haven't been able to find any images on the net as yet of an example of one of these pillars, but the search goes on. As does the search for a reasonably priced mint copy of the stamp for my collection.

Until next time...

Stay Decaris Crazy!

S.S. Normandie

The French engraver, Albert Decaris, began his illustrious career in 1935. When I first started looking into the engravings of Decaris I had assumed that the first stamp issued with his name on it was the first stamp he engraved. This turned out not to be the case. In this blog I shall take a look at the first Decaris engraved stamp ever issued - a stamp commemorating the maiden voyage of S.S. Normandie. In case you are interested the first stamp Decaris engraved was the Cloister of the Church of St. Trophinus, which I will look at in a future blog.

The S.S. Normandie commemorative stamp was issued 23 April 1935. I have discussed the design and quality of this stamp with several different people and the feelings have been mixed. Some like it and some downright loathe it. I, for one, rather like it. It was only the second stamp Decaris produced so he hadn't fully developed his style yet, but you can already see in the stamp quite an engraving talent emerging. What do you think...?

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Now let's have a close look at the subject of this great (imho) stamp. Normandie was a French passenger liner, built in Saint-Nazaire for the French line: Compagnie Generale Transatlantique. Her hull was laid on 26 January 1931 and her maiden voyage was four years later on 29 May 1935. Incidently, I have used here the feminine 'she' to describe the ship, but in France ships were described in the masculine 'he'.

Normandie was one of a new breed of luxury liners. Before the 'Roaring Twenties' passenger liners such as RMS Olympic and RMS Mauritania dedicated large portions of the ship for third class or steerage accommodations for those wishing to immigrate from Europe to the United States. After the United States cracked down on immigration in the early twenties passenger liners became more and more the domain of wealthy travellers. In fact, many passengers were those escaping US prohibition for a while to live it up in Europe,  getting drunk and indulging in other pleasures...

S.S. Normandie was a radical ship, utilizing many new design innovations. One such innovation was her bulbous forefoot beneath the waterline, which, combined with a slim hydrodynamic hull, enabled her to achieve faster speeds than earlier ships. She also had new style turbo electric engines, which was far more efficient than earlier propulsion systems. Coupled together these innovations enabled Normamdie to hold the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing on many occasions during her career.

In doing research on this amazing ship I was blown away by its lavish interiors. I could probably go on and on with details, but I don't want to bore you. Instead I'll mention a few of the most staggering details. Firstly,  a new design feature whereby the funnel intakes were redirected down the sides of the ship instead of straight up the middle gave interior designers far more room to work with. This extra room was utilized to stunning effect! The ship's First Class dining hall was the largest afloat. It was 305 feet (93m) in length, 46 feet (14m) wide, and a staggering 28 feet (8.5m) high. If that in and of itself isn't grand enough for you, well imagine yourself in your finest garb strolling through entry doors that are 20 feet tall! Then you enter a room sumptuously decorated in Art Deco style with glass ceilings ornate columns and huge chandeliers that earned Normandie the nickname 'ship of light'. 

"SS Normandie Grande Salle à Manger" by http://lehavrephoto.canalblog.com/images/Num_riser00036.jpg. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia

One more little tidbit I'll add - purely because I am an ancient Egyptian history buff - is the decor of the first class smoking room, which was decorated with large murals depicting ancient Egyptian life.

Sadly, this grand lady of the oceans met with a fate unbecoming her regal stature. At the outbreak of World War II Normandie was docked in New York. And there she remained until after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The French crew was removed and the ship was prepared for conversion into a troop ship to contribute to the war effort. Normandie was renamed USS Lafayette in honour of the French general who fought for the colony in the Revolutionary War.

Now to the tragic bit. While being outfitted a fire broke out aboard ship, since the fire-watch systems had been deactivated for the conversion. This proved to be just the beginning of a dark comedy of errors! When fire fighters arrived they found to their horror that the US hose fittings weren't compatible with those on the French ship. While manually pumping water on the blaze using fire ships the vessel developed a dangerous list to port as a result of water flooding the ship. The designer of the ship arrived on the scene to help, but he wasn't allowed to participate. He suggested that the firefighters open the seacocks, which would flood the lower decks causing her to sink the few feet the harbour floor. This would have stabilized the ship. But his suggestion was ignored! As a result the ship listed further and further until at 2.45 am on 10 February USS Lafayette capsized. 

"Normandie capsized (LIFE)" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Normandie_capsized_(LIFE).jpg

Once she was salvaged she was reclassified as an aircraft and transport ferry, but the damage from the accident was too extensive and she sat in dry dock till the end of of the war. Finally, at the end of the war, on 11 October 1945 USS Lafayette was stricken from the naval register and scrapped. Such a terrible end for a ship once nicknamed 'ship of light'.

Until next time...

Stay Decaris Crazy!