GOLDEN RULE brigantine

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

GOLDEN RULE brigantine

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Dec 15, 2019 7:45 pm

Bermuda issued two stamps on 1 November 2019 for the 170th Anniversary of the arrival of the first Portuguese immigrants on Bermuda,

During the mid-19th century, Bermuda experienced considerable expansion in agriculture as a key component of its economy. The Island exported onions, carrots, potatoes and other crops to the United States and to various countries in the West Indies. The “Bermuda Onion” became so popular in the New York area that the Island was colloquially referred to as “The Onion Patch” there – a term which forms part of Bermuda’s vernacular to this day.
The Island was finding it more and more difficult to maintain a large enough labour force which was properly skilled to meet the ever-increasing demand for Bermuda-grown crops abroad.
The emancipation of slaves on 1st August 1834 released into the general labour force, a population of workers who had been mostly employed in areas other than agriculture. The farmers began to look elsewhere for a labour force that was skilled in farming and agriculture.
In 1847 the Colonial Parliament, in recognition of the need for Bermuda to maintain a labour force that could sustain the large-scale cultivation of crops for export, voted to offer 400 pounds sterling to ship owners for the recruitment of suitable immigrants.
Several articles appearing in the Bermuda Royal Gazette, beginning 10th April 1849, highlighted the arrival of farm labourers from the Portuguese island of Madeira to several countries of the West Indies including Trinidad and Antigua; and British Guiana in South America. On the 14th August, 1849 a notice was placed in the Bermuda Royal Gazette inviting farmers and householders to become subscribers for the impending voyage of the brigantine GOLDEN RULE to Madeira for the purpose of recruiting farm labourers and house servants. The
ship arrived back in Bermuda on 4th November 1849 with 58 immigrants consisting of 35 male adults, 16 women and 7 children.
The historic and considerable contribution of this first group of Portuguese immigrants from Madeira aboard the GOLDEN RULE was significant in the creation of a sustainable and successful agricultural economy in Bermuda.
Today, the Island derives great benefit economically, socially and politically from the contributions of Bermudians of Portuguese descent whose ancestors arrived on the Island not only from Madeira but also from mainland Portugal and the Portuguese islands of the Azores and Cape Verde.

$2.50 Stamp
The 20 x 30 Oil on Canvas entitled “Golden Rule off the East End, November 1849” was painted by renowned marine artist, Stephen J. Card, AFNI, and forms part of the art collection of the National Museum of Bermuda.
Mr. Card, a native of Bermuda, is largely self-taught and working in oils, prefers to paint the great ocean liners of the 20th century. His many paintings may be found exhibited onboard vessels of the Cunard Line, Costa Crociere and Saga Cruises; and in numerous corporate and private art collections throughout the world.

.50 Stamp
The brigantine GOLDEN RULE is depicted approaching the eastern end of the Island of Bermuda bringing the first group of Portuguese immigrants to Bermuda from Madeira on 4th November 1849.
The voyage of this vessel, under the captaincy of John Thomas Watlington, a native of Bermuda, had been underwritten by the Government of Bermuda to promote the importation of agricultural labourers to help sustain a burgeoning economy of exported Bermuda-grown crops.

http://cloudfront.bernews.com/wp-conten ... otes-2.pdf

GOLDEN RULE a common name for ships, and she was not a large vessel, so mostly not named in the shipping registers.

The only time I found and I believe she is the right vessel was in the 1859 American Lloyds Register of American and Foreign Shipping where is given
GOLDEN RULE under Capt. Williams with homeport Demerara, Guyana owned by Capt. & Co, (which means she was owned by the captain and others.)
Brig rigged, tonnage 133 tons, dim. 73 x 20 x 10ft. (brig and brigantine were many times mixed up in registers.)
1837 Built-in Bermuda.

She was most probably built by the Bermudian master shipwright Richard Gilbert Dill, his uncle Joseph Dill of the Bermuda firm, Dill, Wood & Co. owned her first and he sold her later to the Watlington family who was the owner when she made the voyage from Madeira to Bermuda in 1849.

1846 Arrived from Bermuda, the Brigantine GOLDEN RULE, and now lying in the St. Katherines's Docks (London), and for sale with 150 barrels superior eating potatoes, in good order, and of this year's growth.

November 1849, B.W. Watlington's ship, GOLDEN RULE, made landfall at Bermuda with 58 immigrants from Madeira, comprising 16 women, 7 children and 35 men, with later migrants coming largely from the Azores. The population on Bermuda was relatively small at that time and the island was going through the throes of the end of slavery, with Emancipation in August 1834, and the terminal decline of shipbuilding, ultimately caused by the invention of the steam engine, which replaced sails as the standard means of seaborne propulsion. Like the famous Madeira drink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_wine of considerable antiquity, it was hoped that the new arrivals would “induce the cultivation of the vine”; alas for a good local vintage, that was never to be

Her fate is unknown.

Source: various Internet sites.
Bermuda 2019 50c/$2.50 sg?, scott?
Attachments
2019 golden rule.jpg
2019 golden rule (2).jpg

Post Reply