By Giorgio Migliavacca

The British Virgin Islands Postal Administration issued a set of stamps celebrating the Centenary of the First Nobel on Friday 5 October 2001. The cancellation ink had hardly dried on the Nobel Prize First Day Covers when, on Monday 8 October, the BVI issued another set. This time a series depicting Visiting Ships of the Royal Navy Part I (a Part II is scheduled for 2002). Each set consists of six stamps perforated 14, both sets being printed in The Netherlands by Joh Enchede

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The Nobel Prize set includes one Caribbean laureate, Sir Arthur Lewis who visited the BVI in the late 1980s. The designer of the set is Nick Shewring, the stamps are printed in sheets of 50 (2 panes of 25) on paper with watermark Multiple Crown CA Diagonal (so-called Spiral) Inverted. The First Day of Issue cancellation depicts the profile of Alfred Nobel facing left from the official Nobel Prize Medal.

The portrait of 1922 Nobel Peace Prize Fridtjof Nansen (18611930) is depicted on the 10c stamp. An explorer of the Arctic, Nansen wrote a six-volume treatise on the Polar Sea and the vignette under his stamp portrait illustrates this aspect of his achievements. After the First World War he played a pivotal role in international humanitarian help, both inside and outside the League of Nations and was appointed the League of Nations High Commissioner for Prisoners of War. In 1921 the Red Cross asked him to coordinate the efforts to save millions of Russians facing famine and death, and despite extremely unfavourable economic and political circumstances he rescued an estimated seven million (of whom six million were children).

1921 Nobel Physics Prize laureate Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is depicted on the 20c stamp. Well-known for his theory of relativity, Einstein has contributed more than any other modern scientist to our understanding of physical reality.

The 25c stamp honours 1979 Nobel Economics Prize, St. Lucia-born Sir William Arthur Lewis (1915-1991). Economic adviser to governments in Africa and the Caribbean, Sir Arthur won a Nobel Prize with Theodore Schultz for pioneering research on economics in emerging countries, and later in his life he was Professor at Princeton University. Also shown on the 25c value are the headquarters of the most important financial institution in the West Indies the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank where Sir Arthur served for many years as Chairman.

The 40c stamp honours 1960 Nobel laureate in Literature, Saint-John Perse (1887-1975). This Guadeloupe-born poet, whose real name was Alexis Léger, became literary adviser to the Library of Congress from 1941 to 1945. The titles of his literary works, such as “Anabasis”, Pluies”, “Neiges” and “Exil”, are inscribed on the stamp vignette below his portrait.
The portrait of 1979 Nobel Peace Prize Mother Teresa (1910-1997) is featured on the 70c stamp. Born of Albanian parents in Skopje, her real name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who devoted her entire life to help the sick and needy of all religions, and during her lifetime she established over 50 relief projects in India alone, and featured below her portrait on the stamp is one of her major achievements, the Pure Heart Home for the Dying Destitute in Calcutta. Philatelically speaking she has been honoured on stamps issued by many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. And in the Caribbean, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, and St. Vincent have all issued stamps honouring the founder of the “Missionaries of Charity”.
Concluding the set is a $2.00 denomination featuring 1921 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Christian Lous Lange (1869-1939). From 1907 to 1933 he served as Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Union (IPU). Lange was also a member of the Norwegian delegation of the League of Nations and shared his Nobel Peace Prize with Swedish Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting.

The Royal Navy Visiting Ships set is designed by John Batchelor, and the six stamps are printed in sheets of 50 (2 panes of 25) on paper with watermark Multiple Crown CA Diagonal (so-called Spiral) Sideways.
Visiting ships depicted on this set include HMS Wistaria (35c) and HMS Dundee (50c). Historic visits are evoked by the 60c depicting HMS Eurydice and the 75c honouring HMS Pegasus. Both were in the Virgin Islands in 1787, the same year in which the first post office was opened in the capital island of Tortola. Furthermore the first recorded Royal Visit to the Virgin Islands took place in 1787. In fact, William IV (then Prince William Henry) sailed to the islands as Captain of the Pegasus (a frigate) escorted by Captain Horatio Nelson of the Boreas and Captain Holloway of the Solebay.
HMS Astrea depicted on the $1 value had participated in 1796 in the capture of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Grenada from the French. In 1806, a cruise in Scandinavian waters proved nearly fatal to Astrea, and she had to be refitted in Copenhagen. By late 1807 was ordered to proceed to the West Indies where she ended her glorious career on the Anegada Reefs (Virgin Islands) on 23 May 1808. Only four men lost their lives in the ordeal, and while the Court Marshal following did not attribute any blame to Captain Heywood, one of his men, George Wright, was sentenced “to suffer death by being hanged by the neck until he is dead.” The wreck site off Pelican Point, Anegada, was surveyed in 1967 by a diving team that included Captain Bert Kilbride. This is not the first time the BVI remembers the fatal journey of HMS Astrea as the ship is also depicted on a 25c definitive stamp issued in 1970 (BVI Catalogue 242).

The new set of stamps ends with a $1.50 denomination honouring Royal Yacht Britannia. One of the world’s most famous ships Britannia made her first call to the BVI in 1964 when Her Majesty The Queen Mother, although convalescing from a recent illness, consented to drive through Road Town and receive members of the Legislative Council at Government House. Britannia visited the Virgin Islands again during the Royal Visits of 1966 and 1977.

In 1993 Royal Yacht Britannia made her last call to the BVI when H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited the Territory for the third time. This was the final occasion that islanders and visitors had the privilege of being invited on board and witnessing the pageantry of the beat of the retreat accompanied by Britannia’s band. A truly memorable experience! The Royal Yacht was at the time celebrating her 40th birthday and no one knew that by 1997 she would be decommissioned. By that time she had carried Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal Family on 968 official visits to no less than 135 countries. However, the BVI did not wait the “swan song” to honour the famous ship and in 1990 a souvenir sheet (BVI Catalogue SS784) had been issued, depicting the R.Y. Britannia as she leaves Road Harbour. Britannia is now permanently moored in Edinburgh’s historic port of Leith.

The Nobel Prize Centenary and Visiting Ships sets and First Day Covers are available at the BVI Philatelic Bureau, General Post Office, Sir Olva Georges Plaza, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Stamp collectors wishing to acquire earlier stamps, from 1866 to the mid-1990s may contact the BVI Philatelic Society, P.O. Box 704, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Or e-mail: issun@candwbvi.net