The stamp depict four vessels, three barks and 1 brig owned by Visin-Florio in 1873.
The stamp is designed after a painting made by Vasi Ivankovic and is titled “Sailing ships of Visin-Florio of Precanj 1873), the painting is now in the Kotor Maritime Museum.
The ship in the foreground is the LIBERTAS with pennant No 265 and call sign HLQN. She has a black hull, richly ornamented stern.
The barque on the right background is the NEPTUN (HNTQ) while the barque on the left is probably COLUMBUS (HDVB) and the brig far left is probably the TEMPO.
The LIBERTAS was built by Charleston, S. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada for Moran & Co, Liverpool, England.
Launched as the KING OF TRUMPS.
Tonnage 599 tons, dim. 142 x 32 x 19ft.(draught).
Single deck and beams, built of mahogany, iron fastenings. Yellow-metalled coppered in May 1863.
Her first Captain was J.Carter.
Around 1865 sold to Florio and others and renamed LIBERTAS, and registered at Trieste, Austria. She was then measured at 669 tons. In the 1870 her owner was listed as Visin Carolina Vedova, Trieste (24 parts) and her captain was Antonio Lucovich.
In 1872 was she classed as a barque of 679 tons, and her owners were Carolina Vedova Visin (12 parts), Elia Florio (6 parts) and Trifone Baggio Florio (6 parts) all of Trieste. One of her owners, Arturo Visin was also her captain at that time. In 1874 her captain was Antonio Lucovich, and in 1879, Filippo Visin. At that time she was measured as 591 tons and owned by Carolina V. Visin (12 parts), Elia Florio (6 parts) and Trifone Florio (6 parts), all of Trieste.
Lloyds 1885, is she given then as 590 tons with dim. 142.8 x 32.3 x 19.5 ft. built of mahogany, iron and copper fastenings, repairs, coppered in May 1882.
She was last surveyed in October 1878 in New York, in the register of 1886 is she listed as sold on 28 April 1885 in Marseilles to a French citizen.
1891 Is given that she was sailing under Italian flag with the name NOSTRA GENITORI but I can’t find any trace of her under that name.
NEPTUN: she was built in St. Rocco, Trieste in 1862 for Holmhoe & Balchen.
Tonnage 487 ton, dim. 126 x 29 x 17ft (draught)
Barque rigged.
Single deck and beams, constructed of oak, copper and iron fastenings, yellow metaled (coppered) in November 1862.
Two cannons, crew 12.
Her first captain is listed as B. Florio.
March 1863 surveyed at New York. In 1865 her captain is listed as Elia Florio, one of her owners, and in 1868 Captain Trifone Giurovich who was also one of her owners. In 1871 her name is spelled NEPTUNE, with a tonnage of 480 and a draught of 11.4ft.. In the same register, she is also listed as “built of fir and oak, iron and copper fastenings, sheated with yellow metal (coppered) in August 1868.
In 1872, she is listed again with the name NEPTUN registered at Perzagno, and her owners are Elia Florio of Trieste (7¾ 3/2), Trifone B. Florio of Trieste (7¾ 3/2), Bernardo Giurovich of Perzagno (2¾ 0/2), Regina Giurovich of Perzagno(¾ 0/2), Edoardo Sbutega of Perzagno (3) and Antonio Verona of Venezia (2).
Her captains were 1872 , Antonio Lucovich; 1874, Trifone Giurovich; 1875, Natale Petricevich and tonnage then given as 390 tons.
1876 Was she registered in Trieste.
In 1877, her homeport was Perzagno (Prcanj), and she was captained by Alberto Pattay; in 1879 by Antonio Lucovich, in 1880 her tonnage was 382, In 1884 her homeport was again Trieste.
(Note difference in tonnage between American and Austro-Hungarian registers (BRT-NRT) or other measurement rule?), also the different owners (captain H. Florio) size 128.9 x 26.5 x 15.4, with a tonnage of 392, owned by E. Florio & Co., and last coppered in September 1879. In the Annuario Marittimo from 1886, her dimensions were 38.18 x 8.23 x 4.92m., Gt 388, nt 382, and owners Elia Florio and the late Filippo of Trieste (7¾ 3/2), Edoardo Sbutega of Perzagno (3), Bernardo Giurovich of Perzagno (2¾ 0/2), Regina Giurovich of Perzagno (¾ 0/2) and Antonio Verona of Venezia (2). She was captained by Filippo Visin of Perzagno.
13 February 1886 sold at Trieste to an Italian citizen.
In the American and Foreign ship register of 1890, under the name NEPTUN, her captain was listed as Alessandro Giraldi, tonnage 317, dim. 128.9 x 26.5 x 15.4ft., owned by Vinelio Moro Bros., registered at Messina, Italy, and last surveyed in March 1888 at Baltimore.
COLUMBUS: Built in 1858, as FOREST QUEEN at Venice (at that time part of Austria Empire.) for J. Florio, who was also her captain at that time.
1851 Registered as the COLUMBUS with the same owners and in 1865 her tonnage was listed as 439 ton, and her captain was Emilio Marco A. Florio. In 1870 , is she listed as owned by Elia Florio of Perzagno (6 1/3), Trifone Biagio Florio of Perzagno (6 1/3), Emilio Marco Florio of Constantin (4), Antonio Florio of Perzagno (1), Giovanni Carlo Florio of Constantin (1) and Caterina Sbutega of Perzagno (1/3), capitained by Mariano Bartoli.
In 1874 she is registered at Perzagno, Austria, and in 1879 back to Trieste with a tonnage of 363, and her owners as Elia Florio, Trieste (7), T.B. Florio, Trieste (7), E.M. Florio of Cospoli (4), Giov. Carlo Florio of Cospoli (1), Bernardo Giurovich of Perzagno (4) and Regina Ginrovich of Perzagno (1), captained by Nicolo Visin.
In 1881 her captain was Giuseppe Giurgevich and the next year her owners were Elia Florio of Trieste (9 ½, T.B. Florio of Trieste (9½), Bernardo Giurovich of Perzagno (4) and Regina Giurovich of Perzagno (1). In 1884 her captain was Paolo Meneghetti and in 1886, her tonnage were 363,
She was sold on 31 March 1885 in Trieste to an Ottoman citizen, where after she disappears.
In the book 12 Centuries of Boka Marina , the COLUMBUS is listed as navigated by Captain Petra Visin from Prcanj in 1879. There is a small discrepancy as the first name of the ship’s captain does not match the two other sources, although both refer to the year 1879.
The owners are the same as for the barque LIBERTAS (in 1873) and NEPTUN (1873,1879).
There was also another, slightly larger ship launched as COLUMBUS built the same year and at the same place (Venice), owned and captained by E. Florio. This ship appears in several US Registers.
TEMPO, not much about her, she was built in Trieste in 1867, for A. Verona & others and registered in Trieste. The captain was also the owner. Tonnage 321 ton.
1885 She appears for the last time in the American registers, still under Captain A Verona.
Yugoslavia 1998 5.00D sg?, scott2424.
Sources: Lloyds Registers. Record of American and Foreign Shipping. Annuario Marittime. 12 Centuries of Boka Marina. Horvath Jozef, A Nautica, Budapest.