Contemporary with the Oryol was the Haiti gunboat Crete-a-Pierrot, blown up deliberatey by the Haitian naval chief, Admiral Killick. The stamp was issued on the 50th anniversary at the event, 1902 when Haitian insurgents ordered arms from Germany to start a revolt against their government. It was revealed that these were being brought to Haiti in a German ship. In August 1902 Admiral Killick was ordered to sea to intercept the ship and confiscate the arms. When the mission was successfully accomplished the German Government made a diplomatic protest and, when this failed, a number of German gunboats were sent to Haiti to capture the small fleet of that country. Admiral Killick refused to surrender, and in order not to be compelled to do so he sent his officers and men ashore, remaining aboard with his physician, Dr. Colt. The admiral then fired the magazine of the Crete-a-Pierrot and in the resulting explosion both men were killed, The German gunboats afterwards left the Bay of Conaives where the explosion had occurred on September 6, 1902. The Crete-a- Pierrot was a steel vessel of 940 tons on dimensions 210ft x 30ft. She was armed with one 6.2in., one 4.7in., and four 3.9in.guns and six machine guns.
SG365 Sea Breezes 1/54