Passport

The Inland Vessels stamps feature Canadian passenger steamers and a riverboat. The Passport was built in England in 1846 and reassembled atKingston. Plying the Hamilton-Montreal passenger route, she was described in 1850 as being "fitted up in the most modern style..." Shooting the rapids of the St. Lawrence was the greatest thrill of the voyage. The ship attained speeds of twenty miles an hour with her engines shut down. Although not large enough to handle the growing summer tourist traffic, Passport was still in service in 1884 when she had a crew of forty, including the captain, at $900 a year, and the third cook, the mess boy and the ladies' maid at $10 a month. In 1897 Passport was withdrawn from service because there had been smallpox aboard. The owners felt that the plague ship reputation might hurt the business of their other vessels. Rebuilt in 1898 and renamed the Caspian, she served until 1921 when she was scrapped at Sorel. Tom Bjarnason's designs for this stamp have captured the elegance and gracefulness of these 19th century passenger vessels. They have a sense of aliveness and presence while preserving a visual continuity with the 1975 set of Coastal Ships stamps. The stamp were printed by a combination of one-colour steel engraving and nine-colour lithography, a method which renders faithfully the delicate line work and bright colour characteristics of Mr. Bjarnason's drawings, as well as showing the interesting detail of the ships' hulls and rigging.