Umbria

[john sefton]

AFTER the Spanish‑American War, the United States Government took over the administration of Cuba, and a set of five stamps, with face values of one, two, three, five and ten cents, was ordered from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at Washington, to cover all Cuban postal requirements. These stamps were in use from 1889 to 1902. The five cents stamp, illustrated here, depicts the Cunard liner Umbria. The vessel is shown in her original barque rig, characteristic of all Cunarders of that day. Eventually the sails and yards were taken off the liner, modernising her appearance but detracting from her beauty.
At her launching, she was described by the Cunard chairman, Mr. John Burns (later Baron Inverclyde), as "the most powerful steamship in the world." The Cunard directors had been so favourably impressed with the running of the Oregon, their acquisition from the Guion Line, that they ordered two larger and faster vessels from her builders, Messrs. John Elder and Company of Fairfield, Clydeside.
The Umbria and Etruria were the two new ships. The Umbria was the first to be completed. She was launched on September 20, 1884, the Etruria following early in 1885. Both vessels were identical in all important particulars, a description of one ship describes the other. Their dimensions were: length 501.6 ft.; breadth 57.2 ft.; depth 38.2 ft. and gross tonnage 7,718.
They were five‑decked ships and the promenade deck was reserved for first‑class passengers. On this deck was located a large teak deck‑house enclosing the entrances to the saloon, captain's room, chart room and ladies' saloon. Above the deck‑house was placed the officers' look‑out bridge and house for the steersmen, and over this the flying bridge. The extremities of the upper deck were protected aft by a turtle back, 75 ft. long, which covered the wheelhouse and hospitals, and forward by a large topgallant forecastle extending 110 ft. aft from the stem, having below accommodation for petty‑officers, etc. The public rooms were equipped luxuriously and ushered in a new epoch in trans‑Atlantic travel comfort.
The Umbria wrested the Blue Riband from the Oregon in 1884. Eight years afterwards, on her 82nd voyage, she made her fastest passage, logging 461, 502, 500. 427, 502 and 388, giving her an average speed of 19.57knots.
In the spring of 1885, in consequence of a Russian war scare, the Umbria was chartered by the Admiralty for six months as a merchant cruiser and completely armed and converted, but fortunately the vessel was not required or the purpose for which she was chartered. She was again taken over by the Admiralty during the second Boer War.
In 1893, whilst on passage to New York, she fractured her propeller shaft and had to be taken in tow. The tow rope broke and the vessel drifted about for three days until the ship's engineers managed to make temporary repairs, enabling her to get to port under her own steam. On another occasion she entered New York after a severe wintry crossing with her decks frozen over by 300 tons of ice, the crew having to use pickaxes to clear it. Eventually the Umbria was broken up at Boness in 1910 by the Forth Shipbreaking Company.
One of the last Cunarders to be fitted with compound engines and almost the last with single screw.

Log Book June 1988
Sea Breezes, Ernest Argyle June 1947.
Cuba SG304 732.

[aukepalmhof]

Cuba 1899 5c sg 304, scott 230.