Passenger Ferries 2012

S/S Birger Jarl and M/S Sally Albatross

The next two passenger ferries in turn to be presented on Åland stamps are S/S Birger Jarl and M/S Sally Albatross. These are ferries number seven and eight in a series of twelve ferry stamps.

S/S Birger Jarl was delivered by Finnboda shipyard to Swedish shipping company Stockholms Rederi AB Svea as S/S Birger Jarl in 1953.

After her maiden voyage on 6 June 1953 to Helsinki with invited guests, she was put in traffic for the collaborating shipping companies Bore, FÅA and Svea between Stockholm and Helsinki and Stockholm and Turku, calling at Mariehamn. In 1973, the ship was sold to Finnish shipping company Jakob Lines, and from 1976 to 1977, the ship berthed in Stavanger as a supply and receiving ship. In the autumn of 1978, she changed name to S/S Baltic Star. The steam engine was replaced by a diesel engine in 1982 and, five years later, a new section was added on the foredeck. With Ånedin-linjen as new owner in 2002, she was once again under Swedish flag and under her old name Birger Jarl, operating as cruising ship between Mariehamn and Stockholm.

M/S Sally Albatross came to be a ship dogged by bad luck. Ordered by Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally in Mariehamn to operate for Viking Line between Helsinki and Stockholm, the ship was built by Wärtsilä Shipyard, Turku, as M/S Viking Saga in 1980. In 1986, the ship was remodelled for cruising and renamed Sally Albatross. While docked at a shipyard in Stockholm in 1990, the ship was completely wrecked by a fire. Only the engines were left intact after the 3-day fire, so the owners decided to cut off everything above the engine room to build an entirely new superstructure. Completely reconstructed in March 1992, the ship recommenced her cruising operations between Helsinki and various ports in the Baltic. Two years later, a new accident occurred. Delayed en route from Tallinn to Helsinki, she slant across the reef off Porkkala at 19 knots and began to take in water. The ship had to be set aground not to sink. The ship made her last cruise in the Baltic in 2006 and was sold to Cyprus in 2007. Today, the ship operates in Greek waters under the name M/S Louis Cristal.

Technical Details

Issue Date: 01.02.2012

Designer: Håkan Sjöström

Printer: Cartor Security Printing

Process: Offset

Colours: 4-colour offset

Size: 35.4 x 26 mm

Values: €0.55, €0.75