SHIP STAMP SOCIETY

[Bobstamp]

I am working on an exhibit for VANPEX 2013 (Vancouver, BC) about military medicine on stamps. One of the stamps I will exhibit is a French semi-postal apparently picturing the hospital ship Charles Roux.

See http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6892&hilit=roux for additional information.

I am trying to determine whether this stamp is the first stamp to show a hospital ship. Does anyone know?

This evening I found an interesting newspaper article about Charles Roux when it was at Iki, Turkey, in 1915. See http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19151218.2.36&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------#.

Bob Ingraham

[exoc@sympatico.ca]

If the information is still of use and you have not already found it, the first hospital ship on a stamp is apparently US #Q6 which pictures the Kronprinz Wilhelm (as it was at the time Q6 was issued in 1913), and became the USS Von Steuben when the US took the ship in 1917 and used it as a troopship. It reportedly carried wounded soldiers late in the World War II.

Jack Gray

[Bobstamp]

Thank you for your response. However, I was unable to find any reference to the Kronprinz Wilhelm as a hospital ship. Wikipedia notes that there are no references to it in commercial records after 1923; the assumption is that it went to the ship breakers at that time or soon after, so it couldn't have served in WWII. So, it doesn't seem like it could be considered as a candidate for the first hospital ship on a stamp. I think that Charles Roux is the primary candidate.

Nailing down "firsts" is always difficult. It depends in large part on the definition, in this case, of "hospital ship." Is a hospital ship just a ship that transports wounded soldiers? Or is such a ship an "ambulance ship"? Charles Roux was a passenger liner before it was converted as a hospital ship.

In fact, most hospital ships started in roles that had nothing to do with medicine. In Vietnam, I was a patient on the hospital ship U.S.S. Repose, which began life as a Type C4 class ship, the largest type of cargo ship built by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) during World War II. I'm not sure that there are any hospital ships that were purpose-built as hospital ships. Even the ships U.S.N.S. Mercy started life as an oil tanker. It seems that commerce and combat always trump medicine.

Bob Ingraham
Vancouver

[exoc@sympatico.ca]

Dear Bob:

Sorry about the reference to World War II - it should have been World War I. The Kronprinze Wilhelm (by now USS Von Steuben) was scrapped in 1924.

I share your caution about the problem of nailing down firsts. I am currently in the last stages of compiling annotated list of topical firsts - about 750 of them. Your note on hospital ships versus "ambulance ships" is useful. I had originally listed the Charles Roux (France B11 - 1918) as the First Hospital Ship Topical and then came across a reference in a Checklist of Hospital Ships (compiled by Annette Yonke and Gerald Estes) out of Watercraft Philately (you can find it on Google under Hospital Ships on Stamps) to the Von Steuben (US Q6 - 1913), identified as "converted to WW-1 troopship (1917) use(d) as homeward bound Sick Transport". The listing now makes reference to both ships even though, as you note, neither was built as a hospital ship. Good luck with the exhibit. Joy,

Jack Gray

[Arturo]

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Dear Bob

Here is some info for your exibit. I hope it helps you. I am sending the image of the stamp Ottoman Hospital Ship Gülnihal from year 1912. This stamp is one of Ottoman League of the Red Crescent Charity Stamps.

You can also find some info on this web site under Ship Stamps Collection about Hospital Ship Gülnihal.

I also definitely advise you (if you don’t have) to own the other Ottoman League of the Red Crescent Charity Stamps which are related to your subject (mostly military medicine) These stamps are K1, K2, K3, K4, K5 and K6 (on page 49 of isfila 2013 catalogue vol-I) and K7, K8, K9, K10, K11 and K12 (on page 67 of isfila 2013 catalogue vol-I)

You can order the isfila catalogue from http://www.isfila.com web site (choose English menu).

Good luck for your exhibit.

Arturo