Lanarkshire Philatelic Society

"Where the land finishes, the Sea begins"

Mrs. Elizabeth Nairn

"Where the land finishing, the sea begins’" was the interesting title of the display being presented by our guest, Mrs. Elizabeth Nairn, at the Lanarkshire Philatelic Society last Friday. Members learned that this was a quote from a poem, "Os Lusiadas’" ("The Lusiads") by Luis de Camöes – about the voyage of Vasco da Gama’s journey to India.

The Display was a fascinating one as so many facets of the Atlantic Ocean were shown in stamps, covers, miniature sheets and postcards.

Starting from how the Atlantic Ocean was formed – and how it is divided by the Mid Atlantic Ridge (an underwater mountain range) the display continued through themes of "Exploration": Bartolomew Dias, Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Columbus etc; "Instruments of Navigation and Position", (a few actual instruments were also on display); "Weather" – including how hurricanes are formed; "Fish and Birds of the Sea", - many varieties; "Coastline of the Atlantic", "Lighthouses" and "Tristan da Cunha" – showing the volcanic eruption of 1961 and the subsequent resettlement.

The Second round continued with further themes – "Islands in the Atlantic", "Migration and Emigration" – this theme showed how much criss-crossing of the Atlantic there was by various peoples – the Portuguese (economic), the Irish (potato famine), Scandinavian (pioneers) and many others. The "Mayflower" with pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic in 1620 and settled in New Plymouth; "War" – including many of the events of the wars of WW1 and 2, and the Falkland Islands. A wonderful series of "Ships of the Atlantic" – with many items illustrating the "Titanic". The whole display ended with "Oil ships" and "Cable laying ships".

Mr. Bill Wilkie led members in giving warm thanks to Mrs. Nairn for presenting such a full and wonderfully varied display.

Our next meeting in St John’s Church Hall, Duke Street, Hamilton is on Friday, 26^th October, 2012 at 7:30pm when we look forward to welcoming Mr. Ron Goodfellow with his display of "Commerce in the Post".

Anyone with an interest in stamps, postal history, postcards etc is very welcome to attend.