The Gulf of Finland stamp booklet

Postage stamp booklet

On 6 September 2001 Finland Post issued a stamp booklet that introduced us to the world of merchant shipping, lighthouses and wrecks, marine research and underwater habitats.
The booklet contains five 1st Class stamps and was deseigned by marine biologist, research diver Juha Flinkman.

Interior of the captain's quarters

The only stamp in portrait format shows the interior of the captain's quarters on a merchant ship built in the 18th century. A chart of the Gulf of Finland, drawn in 1676 by the Dutch map designer Hendrick Doncker, an hourglass and a pair of dividers lie on the desk.
One of the stamps features the upper part of the lighthouse at Utö. The lighthouse is located at the lower rim of the Archipelago Sea. It was the first lighthouse seen by vessels approaching from the south. The first lighthouse constructed of stone was erected at Utö in 1753.

Sankt Mikael

Another stamp depicts Sankt Mikael, one of the most important wrecks ever found in Finnish waters. The Dutch ship, sailing under the Russian flag, was on its way from Amsterdam to St. Petersburg when it sunk south of the Borstö island in the autumn of 1747. The wreck was found by chance in the 1950s. At that time it was loaded with valuable goods from Europe ordered for Empress Elisanbeth Petrovna and the nobility of St. Petersburg. The fourth stamp shows the ship more than two centuries later: a diver is examining the wreck and its treasures.

Vulnerable environment

The booklet also wants to attract attention to the uniqueness of the Gulf of Finland and the need for efficient protection of vulnerable environment. Agriculture, population centers and industrial activities in the countries around the Baltic Sea are the main polluters.
The fifth stamp shows two typical representatives of the unique and vulnerable fauna in the bladder wrack zone: the opossum shrimp Praunus inermis and the isopod idotea baltica.