Les bateaux postaux de Guernesey en timbres 2/4

Suite de l'article du 26 juillet 2010 présentant l'histoire de la liaison entre Guernesey et l'Angleterre. Le deux-cheminées RMS Ibex travaillait sur la ligne de Weymouth pour la Great Western Railway. Construit en 1891 aux chantiers Laird Brothers de Birkenhead pour 57000 livres, c'était un navire rapide qui battit le record de la traversée à son premier trajet vers Guernesey le 7 septembre 1891 en 3 heures et 35 minutes. Il joua de malchance le 5 janvier 1900 quand il s'échoua sur le rocher de Platte Fougère, à 2,75 miles au nord du port de Saint-Pierre. Après un passage pour réparation provisoire au port de St Sampson, il retourne en Angleterre. Durant la Première Guerre mondiale, il assure pratiquement seul le service des îles et il figure dans les archives comme ayant coulé un sous-marin. Il est retiré du service en 1925
The ships featured on our two higher value stamps were both owned by railway companies. The twin funnelled R.M.S. Ibex worked on the Great Western Railway's Weymouth route. Built in 1891 by Laird Brothers of Birkenhead at a cost of £57,000 she was a fast vessel and on her maiden voyage to Guernsey on 7 September, 1891, she set the record time of 3 hours 35 minutes. Misfortune befell her on 5 January, 1900, when she struck the Platte Fougère reef and sank 2,75 miles north of St Peter Port, she was raised and towed into St. Sampson's Harbour where temporary repairs were effected enabling her to return to England for refitting. During World War I, this same Ibex operated the Weymouth service virtually alone and is recorded as having sunk a U-boat while on passage to the islands. She was withdrawn from service in 1925.Pendant cette période, Southampton acquière de l'importance dans le trafic des îles anglo-normandes, un service assuré par la London and South Western Railway Co avec, entre autres, le RMS Alberta. Ce paquebot à une cheminée a été construit en 1900 par John Brown & Co à sur rives de la Clyde. Il atteignait les 19,5 nœuds. Il sert la ligne pendant trente ans sans événement notable même pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Il fut vendu à un armateur grec en 1930.
Southampton had meanwhile become increasingly popular as a port for the islands, a service being operated by the London and South Western Railway Co. with, among other vessels, R.M.S. Alberta. A single-funnelled vessel built on Clydebank in 1900 by John Brown & Co., she had a speed of 19,5 knots. Her period of service was relatively uneventful but she maintained the link between Southampton and the islands for thirty years, including the World War I period, and she was greatly missed by the islanders when she was sold to a Greek buyer in 1930.A suivre…