Working Life

To commemorate the inauguration of, what was then, the newly independent Faroese Postal Administration in 1976 three stamps were issued of which this was one - "The Old Postman".  It was a very particular old postman, Jákup Andreas Henriksen (known as Dia) who lived in the village of Gásadalur on the island of Vágar and who had carried the post between the villages on the island from 1915, when he was 20, until the end of February 1976 when he retired at the age of 80. Through snowstorms and over mountains it was a remarkable working life. For the last five years of his tenure he was not able to walk the route so only delivered in his own village, while his son Solberg Henrikson took on the responsibility of the rest of the route and then took over from his father and became the local postman.  The full story is here  

The stamp is an engraving by the prolific Czeslaw Slania (1921-2005) of a photograph, which is also the case with the following stamps but I am lucky enough to have both photo and stamp combined on maximum cards

and here are a group of young Faroese fishermen in the north Atlantic. I'm fascinated by the direct look into the camera and also by the gloves.  It appears to be a dry day 

 unlike this one which looks to shows a more challenging day  -

with the steersman at his rudder kitted up with full waterproofs

The stamps are a set issued in 1984 called Faroese Pinnaces or just simply, Smacks, but I haven't been able to find out about the date of the photographs themselves.  Is the clue in the stamp that completes the set?

Which shows the 'Westward Ho', a smack which would have a crew of 20, built in 1884 in Grimsby and sold to the Faroe Islands in 1895.  It got an engine in 1920 and continued fishing until 1964. ( During World War 2 it was in the dangerous occupation of bringing its catch to Scotland after fishing off Iceland).  Amazingly it is still in existence being restored in 1968 and then again in 2005 and now appearing at regattas and sea festivals (seen here today in full sail).

An entry Violet Sky's Sunday Stamps II, the theme this week -  'People at Work' - more workers here