The Narrows, St. John’s Harbor, Newfoundland - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert organized an expedition to North America. He set out in June of that year with letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I to claim new lands for England. Beset by fog and inclement weather, his fleet became dispersed, but they managed to reunite just outside of St. John’s Harbor. On August 3, they sailed into St. John’s and claimed Newfoundland for the Crown.

Over the years, many stamps have been issued with small errors in their design. These range from misspellings or wrong dates to incorrect portraits and reversed images. This stamp happens to show the wrong number of ships. Although Sir Humphrey Gilbert started out with five ships, one of them, the “Bark Raleigh,” had to turn back due to sickness on board. When Gilbert’s fleet finally arrived at St. John’s, there were only four ships, not five as depicted on the stamp. If the stamp’s designers wanted to be completely accurate, they could have shown another of Gilbert’s fleet, the “Delight,” stuck on some rocks and being towed to safety by fishermen.

Within a month, three of Gilbert’s four vessels continued westward, seeking additional land to claim (the “Swallow” returned to England with all the sick crew members). But after the “Delight” became caught on some rocks along the coast of present-day Nova Scotia and sank with all hands, Gilbert agreed to go back home. During that return voyage, the “Squirrel,” sank in a storm off the Azores with all hands, including Sir Humphrey. Only the “Golden Hind” made it back safely.

Although Gilbert’s expedition sounds like a comedy of errors, Newfoundland nevertheless became a colony of Great Britain, the first in North America, and remained as such until 1949. The stamp was one of a set of fourteen issued in 1933 commemorating Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his star-crossed 1583 adventure.

Stamp Issuing Country: Newfoundland Date of Issue: 3-Aug-1933 Denomination: 9c Color: ultramarine Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/15/2019 Bon Echo visited it