To commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence, the Togolaise Republic issued a set of four Stamps, the 85 F. value showing a vessel being loaded with phosphate. A photograph I have recently obtained, obviously the source of the stamp design, shows that the ship is the Panama Maru, built for the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (Osaka Mercantile Steamship Company) in 1951 by the Naka Nippon Jukogyo. She is a motor-driven cargo vessel of 11,190 tons deadweight, 9,316 gross, her length being 512 ft. 6 ins. o.a., beam 63 ft. 7 ins. and draught 29 ft.11ins. The vessel has three decks and has two oil engines, each 2-stroke, single acting, having seven cylinders. Speed is 16'/2 knots.
Sea Breezes Oct 1969
Togo SG376