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

stamps.fo

The animals of the Viking Age

The Great Auk

The Great Auk was a bird of the genus Alca, which also includes the Little Auk, Common Murre, Razor Bill and Atlantic Puffin. All of these species live or lived in the North Atlantic. The Great Auk was the largest of these birds and could grow up to 70 cm in height. Some of the other Alca birds had bright or whitish abdomens and dark-black backs, with a characteristic white spot on each side of the head, between the eyes and eye socket. They were flightless birds, with wings that were as small as the South Atlantic penguin. It was fast in the water when hunting fish but very clumsy on land.

The Great Auk lived in large colonies along the coast on both sides of the North Atlantic, so far south that remains of the bird are found in Stone Age and Viking Age kitchen middens.

The bird’s fate was sealed because it was easy to hunt and butcher. Already in the 15th century, the Great Auk was more or less extinct in Northern Europe but large colonies remained in Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, Baffin Island and Labrador. When cod fishing began in Newfoundland and whale hunting began in the North Atlantic, the Great Auk’s fate was sealed. The fishing and hunting boats only had supplies for the trip out, so the Great Auk was taken alive or butchered onboard the boats for the return journey.

The most famous colony was on the Penguin Islands (called Funk Island today), which lies north east of Newfoundland. The last Great Auks were killed in 1801-1802. At that point people were aware of how rare the bird had become and European museums were willing to pay a fortune to get hold of the skin of the Great Auk before it became extinct. The last Great Auks were taken in 1844 on the small island Eldey south of Reykjanes, Iceland but there were unconfirmed observations of the Great Auk in Vardø in Norway in 1848 and several times in Greenland in the 1850s. But the bird is now extinct.

The Great Auk was a summer visitor to the Faroe Islands but there was never any evidence that it bred there. The last bird was taken at Stóra Dímun on 1 July 1808.

There exist a few stuffed examples of the Great Auk, for example Iceland purchased a pair that can be seen today in the Natural History Museum of Iceland. The Zoological Museum in Copenhagen has used the Great Auk as a logo for many years. Ole Worm's Museum Wormianum in Copenhagen was sent a living Great Auk. It was drawn showing a ring around its neck, which meant that it had been tethered.

The Great Auk is an example of a bird that was hunted to extinction purely because of a lack of knowledge about its population distribution. The fishermen of the day cannot be reproached for this, since they did not have the benefit of modern communication technology. But the museums could have perhaps tried to save the Great Auk rather than have helped to deliver the final blow.

Dímunseyðini

Latin: Ovis aries

Dímun Sheep

In the summer of 1844, the then Danish Crown Prince, who would later go on to become King Frederik VII, visited the Faroe Islands. Among the royal entourage was a young zoologist by the name of Japetus Steenstrup, who had been sent by the Royal Natural History Museum of Denmark to collect specimens for the museum. In the Zoological Museum’s collection records of 23 August 1844, it states:

“HRH the Crown Prince with Professor Steenstrup gave the following items to the museum:

1.    18-foot skeleton of Delphinus globiceps (pilot whale).

2.    The feral variety of the Faroese sheep. No hair at the base of the horns or around the ears. The skull was loose.

3.    Second specimen. Well preserved. The skull was loose.

4.    The same juvenile. Male lamb. Well preserved. The skull was loose.

In 1983, the three specimens were returned to the Faroe Islands as part of the opening of Nordic House in the Faroe Islands and today they can be seen in the National Museum of the Faroe Islands.

The sheep are small and black and look a little like the more primitive feral Soay sheep that live on the island of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides. They are called the goat-horned sheep, because both sexes have horns, though the ewe’s horns are smaller and more delicate than the ram’s horns. The Dímun sheep are more developed compared to the Soay sheep, which have the wild sheep’s light belly. Woollen garments recovered from Bronze Age burial sites have the same kind of wool and structure that is found on the Dímun sheep, so even at this early stage, wool from these sheep was being used.

The three sheep from Stóra Dímun were among the last of the original sheep in the Faroe Islands, and were perhaps brought by the Vikings. In an excavation in Eiði in the north end of Eysturoy, half a skull of the same kind of sheep was found. The Vikings brought their own sheep to Iceland and Greenland and almost certainly when they came to the Faroe Islands. Around 1600, almost all of the sheep on the Faroe Islands were wiped out by disease. New sheep were introduced from Shetland and Iceland. But the small black sheep on Lítlu Dímun managed to survive, although by 1860 they were finally wiped out by hunting.

A description of the final shooting of the last sheep on Lítlu Dímun exists. On 5 February 1911, the Justice of the Peace R. Müller wrote in the Danish newspaper Nationaltidende: “The remaining sheep were so wild that they would rather jump in into the abyss than be caught, especially some of the old rams and ewes, who were impossible to get near. So you had to take your rifle and shoot the last of them. The late J. Mortensen, merchant and founder of the largest trading establishment in the Faroe Islands, was a gifted shooter and he told me that he shot several of these sheep and that he had shot the last of them, an old ram that was so careful that shooting it cost him a great deal of effort.”

Dorethe Block

Technical data:

Values: stamps of 13,00 and 21,0 kr

Date of issue: 20-II-2012

Artist:: Astrid Andreassen

Stamp size: 40 x 22,5 and 22,5 x 40 mm

Perforation:

Technique: Offset

Printer:  Cartor Security printing, France

Sea Anemones - Flowers of the Sea

Sea anemone are related to jellyfish and corals, all of which have a relatively simple circular body shape with numerous tentacles surrounding a mouth at one end of the organism. At the opposite end, sea anemones have a suction disc with which they can attach themselves firmly to a hard surface, whereas jellyfish live their lives swimming in open waters. In contrast to corals, sea anemones have no skeleton and act as independent individuals, whereas corals form colonies.

Sea anemones’ shapes and colours give them a striking appearance reminiscent of exotic tropical plants, which also inspired their name and overall scientific classification, Anthozoa (Greek: antho=flowers and zoa=animals).

Sea anemones are found in all oceans and at all depths, from just below the water surface to depths of more than 10,000 metres. Many species are found on wharfs and rocks at the water surface, where they add colour to the more neutral blue-green or brown surroundings – one of the reasons that most people with a relationship to the sea are fond of them. In unsteady waters or when touched, the sea anemone retracts its tentacles into its tubular body, appearing as a hemisphere with a hole at the top.

Despite their flower-like appearance, most sea anemones are predators. They have numerous poisonous cells on their surface – especially on their tentacles, each of which can hold about 2 million of these cells. The poisonous cells paralyse prey, after which it is captured and transported through the sea anemone’s mouth and into its intestinal cavity, where it is digested.   

The sea anemone can only attach itself to a hard surface. It is able to slowly glide on its foot at a speed of less than 10 cm per hour. There are certain species that can release their grip on the surface and float with the current if necessary, and others can even swim using their tentacles, which can help to escape from an approaching predator. The sea anemone’s enemies include nudibranchs, fish and starfish. However, sea anemones have a very high capacity for regeneration. Parts of the animal torn off due to bad weather or a predator grow back again.

It is not uncommon for sea anemones to be attached to other animals, such as the hermit crab. In this way, sea anemones come in contact with more potential food ­– and the behaviour of the hermit crab can attract potential prey of the sea anemone. In return, the hermit crab is protected by the sea anemone from infection by larvae of various crustacean parasites.

Sea anemones reproduce both sexually, with sperm and eggs, and asexually, typically through pedal laceration, in which a small piece of the pedal disc breaks off. This piece then develops into a new sea anemone that is a clone of the mother.

Marine biologists consider difficult to determine the species of sea anemones. Conservation of this animal group requires special methods and specialist knowledge is required to ensure correct identification. Although the sea anemone fauna in the Faroese area is not yet completely documented, it can be characterised as Nordic – or in scientific terms, East Atlantic Boreal – with an Arctic touch. Thirty species of sea anemone have been identified in the Faroes, but the total number of species is presumably higher.

The size of Faroese sea anemones varies greatly. The diameter of fully grown sea anemones varies from more than 30 centimetres for the largest species, Bolocera tuediae, down to a couple of millimetres with Edvardisia danica. The longest species in the Nordic seas is the very common Frilled Anemone (Metridium senile), which can reach lengths of a half metre. Some species of sea anemone can reach a considerable age; for example, a sea anemone of the species Actinia equina has lived for more than 66 years in an aquarium.

Ámundur Nolsø

Technical data:

Values: stamps of 3,00, 6,50, 8,50 and 10,50 kr

Date of issue: 20-II-2012

Photos: Ingi Sørensen

Stamp size: 30 x 40 mm

Perforation:

Technique: Offset

Printer:  OeSD, Austria

Queen Margrethe II – 40 years on the throne.

Stamp

Souvenir sheet

On 14 January 2012, forty years have passed since Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II became Queen of Denmark. Queen Margrethe is the constitutional head of the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Denmark and the two autonomous regions: Greenland and the Faroe Islands. On this occasion the Faroese Posta, Post Denmark and Post Greenland issue a common stamp sheet.

Queen Margrethe was born on 16 April 1940 at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. Her parents were Crown Prince Frederik, later King Frederik IX, and Crown Princess Ingrid. In 1944 and 1946 the couple had two more daughters, respectively Princess Benedikte and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark.

Princess Margrethe was babtized in Holmen Church in Copenhagen on 14 May 1940. Her full name was Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid. At that time, female succession to the throne was not an option, so not until the introduction of the Act of Succession of 27 March 1953, Princess Margrethe became Crown Princess of Denmark and heir to the throne. On 16 April 1958, Crown Princess Margrethe took seat in the State Council and served as head of State Council meetings when her father King Frederik IX was absent.

Education
The young Princess Margrethe received her primary school education at Zahle’s School in Copenhagen from 1946 to 1955. The first couple of years though, the education took place at Amalienborg Palace. After a short stay at boarding school in England (1955-56), she started on her high school education and graduated from Zahle’s School in 1959.

In 1960 Crown Princess Margrethe took the obligatory examination in philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. In 1960-61 she attended studies in archeology at the University of Cambridge in England. In the period 1961-62 Margrethe studied political science at University of Århus, in 1963 she studied in Sorbonne, France and in 1965 at the London School of Economics.

In 1967 Crown Princess Margrethe married the French diplomat Henri Marie Jean André Count de Laborde de Monpezat, who by this marriage became Prince Henrik of Denmark. They had two sons, Crown Prince Frederik, born on 26 May 1968, and Prince Joakim, born on 7 June 1969.

From Crown Princess to Queen
On 14 January 1972 King Frederik IX died. The next day, the Crown Princess was hailed as Queen Margrethe II by Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag at Christiansborg Castle Square.

The Constitutional Head of State
Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II is the constitutional Head of State of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This means that she as a ruler has no political powers or influence – these lies with the democratically elected parliaments.

The Queen’s role in elections
When time calls for elections to the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister visits the Queen, submits his resignation and recommends general elections. When the elections are over, the Queen calls for a so-called Queen’s Round, where two representatives from each elected party visit her at Amalienborg Palace and recommend a leader for new government negotiations. This person will then be summoned and appointed formal negotiator. When the political parties in question have made an agreement for the terms of a new government, the new Prime Minister and his/her team of ministers visit the Queen again for the official approval.

The State Council
Once a week the Danish State Council is held, where the Queen meets the Prime Minister and Government. At this council the Queen or her deputy is informed of the Government’s work. It is also at this meeting that the Queen signs new laws together with the responsible ministers.

The Queen’s New Year Speech
Every year on 31 December, Queen Margrethe delivers the so-called New Year Speech, which is broadcasted live in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. With this speech the Queen makes status over the year that has passed. This tradition is very popular, and although it is not a political speech, it may contain a remark or two of humanitarian or moral character.

Other Duties
As Head of State, it is the Queen’s duty to preside at formal State Visits, both when she makes official visits to other countries and when foreign Head of States visit Denmark.

The Queen of Denmark is formally the head of the Danish Army. It is also the Queen who formally welcomes foreign ambassadors, when they arrive in Denmark.

Additionally, the Queen performs some representative tasks in connection with anniversaries, inaugurations, premieres, award of orders, etc.

The Summer Cruise
Each year the Queen performs a so-called Summer Cruise to Danish cities – mostly with the royal yacht “Dannebrog”. At regular intervals, the summer cruise also includes visits to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Great numbers of people meet the Queen at her arrivals, and indicate the Queen’s popularity in the three countries.

The Queen and the Faroe Islands
Since 1380, the Faroe Islands have been part of the Kingdom of Denmark -first as a part of Norway, then with direct connection to Denmark. Although the progress has developed into greater political autonomy, Queen Margrethe is very popular among the Faroese population, who have followed her since her first visit on the islands as a child. First with her father, King Frederik IX, and later in her capacity as Queen with her own family. The Queen’s insight into Faroese relations and history is highly appreciated and there is no doubt that a large proportion of the population looks forward to her traditional summer visits.

Queen Margrethe II is the Queen of the Faroese as well as the Greenlanders and Danes, no doubt about that.

Anker Eli Petersen

Technical data:

Values: stamp of 10.50DKK (also included in the souvenir sheet)

Date of issue: 04-I-2012

Author: Design: Mikael Melbye. Engraver: Martin Mörck

Stamp size: 43,39 x 53,50 mm

Perforation:

Technique: Intaglio/Offset

Printer: Post Danmark Frimærke