Natal

[shipstamps]

To commemorate the "Day of the Stamp, 1970", New Caledonia issued a 9f. stamp depicting the packet boat Natal, the first vessel to inaugurate a regular mail service between Marseilles and Noumea. One of a class of five liners, the Natal was launched on July 3, 1881, at the La Ciotat yard, the first of the class. She had accommodation for 90 first, 38 second and 75 third-class. On January 15, 1881, her owners, Messageries Maritimes, received a contract for a mail service from Marseilles to Australia and New Caledonia, with calls at Mahe, Reunion and Mauritius and immediately ordered five ships to be built at La Ciotat for the new service. The Natal opened the service sailing from Marseilles on November 23, 1882, and taking out the first mail to Noumea, the event that the stamp commemorates. She was barque-rigged, with two funnels, iron-hulled; and had a gross tonnage of 4,074 tons, with a net of 1,985 tons. A three-decked ship, she had a length of 413 ft. 9 in., beam of 39 ft. 7 in. and depth of 32 ft. 8 in. Her engines developed 398 n.h.p. giving a speed of 15 knots. She gave her owners good service, her career ending when she was sunk in collision with the steamer Malgache while in convoy, on August 30, 1917.
SG479 Sea Breezes 6/71

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Sisterships MELBOURNE, CALEDONIEN, SYDNEY, SALAZIE, YARRA and OCEANIEN.
(New Caledonia 2017 110 Fr. StG.?)

[aukepalmhof]

This new 110 XPF stamp issue, designed by Jean-Jacques Mahuteau, forms the second instalment of the stamp series dedicated to legendary ocean liners and shows the Natal, a Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes mail packet which, in 1882, became the first ship to provide a regular service between Marseilles and Noumea via the Suez Canal.
The first of seven identical steamships built at La Ciotat, the Natal was a two
funnel vessel fitted with a propeller, and had three masts and three decks.
With a length of 130.75 m and a beam of 12.07 m, the liner could accommodate
211 passengers and a crew of 196, and averaged a speed of 12 knots.
After making three trips in Oceania, the Natal was transferred to the China route, which she sailed from 1884 to 1897. In 1890, she ran into a violent typhoon on
the way from Hong Kong to Saigon and suffered major damage.
The Natal sailed the eastern Mediterranean routes from 1897 to 1898 and was then reassigned to routes in the Indian Ocean up until 1914.
The liner was requisitioned for war service during the First World War and regularly carried not just mail but also soldiers serving in auxiliary troops. She played a
part in the Gallipoli landings and was also one of the ships used to transport the
Serbian army from Corfu to Salonika in 1916.
On the evening of 30th August 1917, the Natal was hiding in Marseilles harbour,
with all lights out, to avoid detection by German submarines when a freighter
rammed her port side. She sank in the space of a few minutes, taking over a
hundred people, including the captain, with her to her watery grave.
For the last hundred years, the wreck has lain off Planier Island at a depth of 127 m. In professional diving circles, it is rumoured that the wreckage hides a mysterious treasure...

Source: New Caledonia Post.
New Caledonia 1970 9f sg 479 and 2017 110fr, scott?