The Faroese Flag Day

The Faroe Islands were one of the last territories on the planet to be discovered and populated. The first settlers are said to have been Irish monks who arrived in the year 700 and something, there are no signs of people having lived here before that so the birds had it to themselves. Norsemen arrived in the early 800's. For the first 200 years or so Faroes was a free country but it then came under foreign power - first Norway and then Denmark.

During the Second World War, when the Germans occupied Denmark, Faroes helped feed Britain by sailing there with fish; they sailed under the new Faroese flag called Merkið, which the British officially recognised.

There had been a strong movement for independence for many years and in 1946 a referendum was held and the majority chose independence. This caused concern in Denmark and the Danish government dissolved the Parliament. A new Parliament was elected in which there was not a majority for independence. In 1948 the Danish Parliament passed the Home Rule Act making Faroes a self-governing state inside the Danish Kingdom. The Act recognised the Faroese flag and the Faroese language.

In recent times, the number of people wanting independence for their nation has increased considerably and in 1998 the Parliamentary elections resulted in a coalition taking power whose main promise was to set in motion a process towards full sovereignty. That process is now underway despite changes in the parliament.

Flag Day
25 April is a half-day annual public holiday in the Faroes called Flag Day. It was during the Second World War on 25 April 1940 that there was an announcement on the BBC calling on all Faroese ships to fly the Faroese national flag instead of the Danish flag.

(Source: http://www.framtak.com)

Nordic Issue 2012 - Rescue at Sea

It is widely accepted that the most dangerous of all workplaces is the sea.

Naturally, the effects of this fact are primarily felt by the countries most dependent on the sea, such as the Faroe Islands.

The biggest known accident at sea in the Faroe Islands occurred around the year 1600. A storm suddenly appeared from the northeast and 50 boats never returned home. It is believed that 200 to 300 fishermen were killed in the storm. Because the majority of the boats that did not return home were small, the use of small boats was then prohibited. Thus, this major accident resulted in the first known initiative to make the sea a safer workplace.
But there were still many maritime accidents that claimed the lives of many victims. There are no precise figures, but the victims were in the thousands, making a significant impact on a community as small as the Faroe Islands.

The lives of many fishermen were lost in the first half of the previous century. On more than one occasion, many crews of up to 23 men each disappeared at the same time.

There are also reports from this period of incredible rescue efforts. For example, in 1930 during a snowstorm, the schooner “Ernestine” crashed into a reef off the southern coast of Iceland. A member of the crew, Ziska Jacobsen, swam in the worst imaginable conditions to the shore with a line, enabling the rescue of 17 of the 26 crew members.

It would take another accident before an initiative was taken to establish an actual rescue service in the Faroe Islands. In 1957, the Icelandic trawler “Goðanes” crashed into a reef at the approach to Skálafjørð on the island of Eysturoy. Although there was a willingness to rescue the crew, the Faroe Islands were simply not equipped to handle such a situation. The captain of “Goðanes” died in the accident. Following this accident, the Icelandic rescue company, Slýsavarnafelag Íslands, donated equipment to the Faroese for rescuing crews from ships in distress, sparking the establishment of rescue associations around the Faroe Islands. These rescue associations have been very well equipped. And they have made great efforts when there has been a need for them.

It took some time before the Faroe Islands established a formal rescue service. This happened in 1976, in connection with the founding of the Fisheries Inspectorate. In addition to fisheries inspection, the inspectorate was also charged with the task of participating in search and rescue efforts at sea in cooperation with the MRCC, Maritime Rescue Coordination Center. The Fisheries Inspectorate also had a cooperation agreement with the large Faroese insurance company. This primarily involved towage and diving assistance. The Fisheries Inspectorate and Ships Inspectorate also cooperate on monitoring the conditions for crews on board ships. The Fisheries Inspectorate examines the crew documents, while the ships are fishing. It has the power to order ships into port if it finds violations of crewing and inspection regulations. The MRCC also cooperates to operate Tórshavn Radio, both agencies under the Ministry of Fisheries. 

MRCC Tórshavn is responsible for initiating and coordinating search and rescue efforts in Faroese waters. Cooperation agreements have been established with various partners, including: Atlantic Helicopters, Island Command Faroes, the Fisheries Inspectorate and our neighbouring countries regarding assistance in emergencies.

MRCC Tórshavn also has the task of receiving notification of oil spills in Faroese waters, organising patient transports by helicopter, forwarding notifications of terrorist threats against Faroese ships (ISPS) and to formulate and announce marine warnings.

The MRCC’s area of operation is out to 200 nautical miles from land, or to the midline between our neighbouring countries. The station is staffed around the clock throughout the year.

For added security, it is required by law that anyone who goes to sea must have taken a safety course, so that crews are well prepared in case of an emergency situation. In addition, ships today are much better equipped for safety, making life at sea much safer today than in the past.

Therefore, work at sea can now be considered a safe occupation. Deaths at sea are now rare, although absolute safety can never be achieved. But when something does happen, everything that can possibly be done to save human lives is done. 

Óli Jacobsen

Technical data:

Values: two stamps of 10,5 kr

Date of issue: 21-III-2012

Artist: Edward Fugl

Stamp size: 29,5 x 38,50 mm

Minisheet size: 105 x 70 mm

Perforation:

Technique: Offset

Printer: OeSD, Austria

stamps.fo also in Chinese and Spanish

The Faroe Islands are a minor island nation and our national language has a rather limited geographic distribution. It has therefore always been a necessary for the Faroese to master foreign languages in order to communicate with the outside world.

Linguistic skills are a part of the culture, so to speak: for survival, for cultural development or just to keep up with what is going on around us.

Since Posta in the mid-seventies started to issue stamps, our information materials and communication has been delivered in five languages: English, German, French, Danish and Faroese. This has worked well so far, but as the increasing globalization has opened markets in new linguistic and cultural fields, the needs and requirements for communication have grown as well.

It is therefore with great pride that we now are able to present ourselves in two of the world's largest and most widespread languages – Chinese (Mandarin) and Spanish.

In the future, all our promotional materials will be available on our web side in these languages, and direct correspondence via E-mail and traditional mail will now be answered in Chinese and Spanish. The Spanish version of www.stamps.fo was launched on January 17th this year and the Chinese version on March 13th.

We welcome all Mandarin and Spanish speakers to our little branch of the world culture and hope you will find pleasure in exploring our colourful and interesting universe.

Svanbjørg Manai, director

Posta Stamps

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