St Pierre et Miquelon issued in 2020 one stamp which shows us the French hospital ship SAINT-YVES.
Built as a two-master schooner-rigged wooden “dundée” by Chantier Navals de Normandy, Fécamp for the account of the Verdoy family.
25 November 1928 launched as the WILLY FURSY.
Tonnage 115 ton, dim. 27 x 24.90 (bpp) x 7m., draught 3.45m
Auxiliary engine, (I am not sure she was fitted out with an engine when built)
14 February 1929 completed, homeport Graveline, France. The same day she sailed from Graveline under command of skipper Joseph Soonkindt for the fishing grounds off Iceland in the cod fisheries till 1932. Thereafter in the cod fisheries on the west coast of Greenland till 1934.
In 1935 she was sold to the La Société “Œuvre de Mer” in Saint Malo. Renamed in SAINT YVES.
For a refit in a hospital ship she was sent to her builder’s yard in Fécamp where her crew accommodation was modernized with berths and cupboards, then the galley. Separated from the galley by a strong bulkhead comes the hospital, with two wall-hung wash-basins, linen cupboards, and four berths. To starboard, touching the bulkhead of the galley is the chapel. Under the companionway, leading into the hospital, there is a cabin with two berths with wash-basins and cupboards, for the contagious. In addition to fixed berths, six mobile berths are provided.
To starboard, a room reserved for visiting patients and in which is placed the operating table, the pharmacy, etc.
In the center, completely separated from the hospital, the companionway with gangway controlling the inspection room, a compartment reserved for the post office and, aft, the saloon then, taking access into the saloon, to port and starboard, the chaplain and doctor's cabin.
Then comes, separated by a double bulkhead, the engine room, in which is installed an 80 HP Bolinder auxiliary diesel and a diesel generator, with first, the oil tanks with a capacity of 10 tons. Finally, aft, the captain's cabin, the companionway and the saloon with four berths. The central heating ensures a good temperature throughout the ship; the boiler is placed in the rear saloon.
Under the floors are installed, the coal bunker, freshwater tanks, the chain locker. She carried 45-ton cast iron ballast.
The windlass is powered by the engine. The interior of the deckhouse, houses the galley with stove and bread oven, the TSF (radio) cabin, the companionway, and two toilets.
The wheelhouse with the compass, chart table, etc, etc.
Commander Lacroix in "the last Terre-Neuvas, Icelandic and Greenlandic cod sailboats" provided us with the following details: For the 1935 campaign, the Saint-Yves was commanded by Mr. Gervin, captain of the merchant marine, Mr. Blondel was the engineer and M. Duchâteau, lieutenant in the long run, is the radio operator.
The medical service is provided by Doctor Jousset, assisted by his nurse Louis Nédelec who had 15 years of operation practice.
The rest of the crew includes the mate, the boatswain, eight sailors, and a boy.
In 1935, having left Saint-Malo on May 8 and returning on September 6 between the banks of Newfoundland and the coasts of Greenland, she contacted 141 ships, hospitalized 19 men for 232 days, gave 90 consultations, collected 22 castaways, and distributes and receives 13,801 letters
In 1936 they set out again for a new campaign. The RP Yvon and his radio created "Radio Morue" with a weekly program which gives the top times, the weather forecast, the news of the fishing and the country, the itinerary of SAINT-YVES, and medical advice
Campaigns continued with success in 1937, 1938, and 1939.
In September 1939 it was the SAINT-YVES that announced that war had been declared on sailing vessels without the TSF and returned definitively to Saint-Malo on October 26, 1939.
It seems that SAINT-EVES remained laid up during the Second World War. After the war, the fish and shellfish trade started up again. The Ouhlen du Diben fishponds then bought the SAINT-YVES and had her refitted in a well-ship for the transport of crustaceans with a fairly imposing footbridge. It is then called the MARYANNICK. The Ouhlen lobster and lobster trade is important. The MARYANNICK, like the ROSKO, regularly go to Newlyn in English Cornwall and in Ireland to look for shellfish. When not trading, it is often moored in the Morlaix basin. I do not know in what year she was definitely decommissioned and where her hull finished.
https://www.histoiremaritimebretagnenor ... -de-mer-6/ (google translated)
St Pierre et Miquelon 2020 1.45Euro, sg?, scott?