The 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARSEILLE - PAPEETE MARITIME COURIER SERVICE

[aukepalmhof]

In 1851, Albert Rostand, a young shipowner, proposed to the director of Messageries Nationales, Ernest Simons, a partnership to create the Messageries Maritimes company to transport passengers and freight, but also to respect an agreement with the State to ship mail with regularity.
On the regular postal line set up towards South America, the company founded the city of Dakar which served as a stopover and coal depot until 1912. The ships were built in the shipyards of the Ciotat like the EL KANTARA which was a mixed cargo with 141 m long and 16 m wide. He was assigned to the Dunkerque-Marseille-Saigon-Haiphong line and took his first departure in April 1905.
In 1919, placed on the Dunkerque-Tahiti-New Caledonia line via Panama, it was the first ship of the Messageries Maritimes to cross the Panama Canal by bringing back the 540 Pacific soldiers from the front to their islands and in May 1923, it regularly ensured the France-Nouméa via the West Indies and the Panama Canal. This steamer was demolished at Dunkerque in December 1926.
Other ships made the company famous, such as the SAGITAIRE or the VILLE d’AMIENS, whose names were associated with the stories of World War II.
After the Second World War, connections were rare in 1949, and long-distance ship arrivals were considered a rare distraction. Indeed, many ships were sunk and even scuttled, and it was not until the 1950s that the company regained a cruising rhythm.
Papeete lived thus to the rhythm of his port, agitated by the long haul of Messageries Maritimes and schooners serving the remote islands.
Fare Rata, the Polynesia Post Office is proud to share with you this marine adventure, which offered our fenua, an economic opening to the world.

More info is given on the EL KANTARA which is depict on the stamp: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7022

https://www.tahitiphilatelie.pf/details ... 023&id=417
French Polynesia 2023 100F sg?, Scott?