Brown’s Head Light.

Browns Head Light is a lighthouse in Vinalhaven, Maine. It is on the NW corner of Vinalhaven Island and was first established in 1832. The present structure was built in 1857. Browns Head Light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Browns Head Light Station" on January 27, 1983. This nicely proportioned, compact station includes a fog signal in a small building shaped like a metronome. The lighthouse marks a popular seaway between Vinalhaven and North Haven islands. It is rented to Vinalhaven's town manager but the grounds are open to the public. The Maine State Ferry Service offers daily, year-round transportation to Vinalhaven Island; the lighthouse is at the end of Brown's Head Light Road there. The Brown's Head Light was built in 1832. Thank you Maria for this nice card.

SS Batavia

Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). It was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and armed with 24 cast iron cannons and a number of bronze guns. Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and was made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors. A twentieth century replica of the ship is also called the Batavia and can be visited in Lelystad, Netherlands. This pretty postcard was given to me by Maria.

USS Portsmouth

The second USS Portsmouth was a wooden sloop-of-war in the United States Navy in service during the mid-to-late 19th century. She was designed by Josiah Barker and built in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the lines of a French-built privateer. She was described as an improvement over the USS Saratoga built in the same shipyard a year earlier. The Portsmouth was launched at the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 23 October 1843 and commissioned on 10 November 1844, with Commander John Berrien Montgomery in command. Built in 1843 as a 24 gun sloop of war, the Portsmouth was one of the last naval vessels constructed without steam and boasted as one of the most beautiful ever. Her career, which began with a record breaking voyage from Norfolk to the Sandwich Islands, ranged from participating in the African slave trade to being instrumental in the conquest of California. In this photograph from the late 1800’s the Portsmouth is at her home port where sails and jackets are hung up to dry in the breeze. My dear friend Maria gave me this nice historical card.

German submarine U-995

German submarine U-995 was a German Type VIIC/41 U-boat of the Kriegsmarine. She was laid down on 25 November 1942 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned on 16 September 1943 with Oberleutnant Walter Köhntopp in command.

At the end of the war on 8 May 1945 she was stricken at Trondheim, Norway. She was surrendered to the British and then transferred to Norwegian ownership in October 1948. In December 1952 U995 became the Norwegian submarine Kaura and in 1965 she was stricken by the Royal Norwegian Navy. In 1945 the submarine was captured by the allies and from then it served in the Norwegian navy. The submarine was stricken from Norwegian service in 1965 and the Norwegians offered the German government the boat in 1965 for a token price of 1DM, but they refused. Thankfully the German Navy League (DMB) stepped in, paid the price and took over the boat, provided the space and she became a museum ship at Laboe Naval Memorial in October 1971. The U 995 has found its final destination at the Ostsee beach just a few kilometres from Kiel. The Kriegsmarine put 603 submarines of this type (VIIC/41) into service between 1939 and 1944. It was one of the most important submarine types of the Second World War. From 1943 till 1945 the U 995 fulfilled several missions against allied convoys heading for Murmansk. The U 995 is in a very good condition, looking like it has just returned from a mission. You can walk around the submarine but unfortunately you can't get on the bridge. This nice card was sent to me by Gerald.

Bath Iron Works

Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since it’s founding in 1884 (as Bath Iron Works, Limited), BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy. The shipyard has built and sometimes designed battleships, frigates, cruisers and destroyers, including the Arleigh Burke class, which are among the world's most advanced surface warships. The card shows some ships being readied for commissioning.

Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world (as of 2008). During World War II, ships built at BIW were considered to be of superior toughness, giving rise to the phrase "Bath-built is best-built." Thank you Maria for this nice card.

Saint Peter’s Square

Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome The open space which lies before the basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII, as an appropriate forecourt, designed "so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace" (Norwich 1975 p 175). Bernini had been working on the interior of St. Peter's for decades; now he gave order to the space with his renowned colonnades, using the Tuscan form of Doric, the simplest order in the classical vocabulary, not to compete with the palace-like façade by Carlo Maderno, but he employed it on an unprecedented colossal scale to suit the space and evoke emotions awe.

St. Peter's Basilica (Italian: San Pietro in Vaticano) is a major basilica in Vatican City, an enclave of Rome. St. Peter's was until recently the largest church ever built and it remains one of the holiest sites in Christendom. Contrary to what one might reasonably assume, St. Peter's is not a cathedral - that honor in Rome goes to St. John Lateran.

St. Peter's Basilica stands on the traditional site where Peter - the apostle who is considered the first pope - was crucified and buried. St. Peter's tomb is under the main altar and many other popes are buried in the basilica as well. Originally founded by Constantine in 324, St. Peter's Basilica was rebuilt in the 16th century by Renaissance masters including Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini. This lovely card was sent to me by Maria.

Ethnic Communities in China

These four pretty postcards were sent to me from China by Françoise. They show glimpses of four different ethnic communities in China. They are :-

Jino nationality (top left) which is one of the 56 ethnic groups in China, the population is around 20,899, most of the Jinos live in the Jinoluoke Township of Jinghong County in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.The language of this ethnic minority belongs to the Tibetan-Myanmese group of the Sino -Tibetan language family. Its structure and vocabulary have much in common with Yi and Myanmese.

The Monbas (top right) are scattered in the southern part of Tibet Autonomous Region. Most of them live in Medog, Nyingch and Cona counties. They have forged close links with the Tibetan people through political, economic and cultural exchanges and intermarriage over the years.

The Lhoba Nationality (below left) is one of the smallest ethnic groups of China. It has only 2.312 members. They mainly live in Mainling, Medog, Zayu, Khunze and Nang counties. The Lhobas have many tribes including the Bogar, Ningbo, Bangbo, Degen, Adi, and Tajin. Lhoba is a name given them by the Tibetans meaning "the Southerners". After the founding of new China, they were named the Lhoba Nationality.

The smallest of China's 55 ethnic groups is the Hezhen nationality (below right) who once lived at the confluence of the Heilongjiang, Songhua, and Usuli rivers in Heilongjiang Province in northeast China. Their illiteracy rate is the 4th lowest following the Chinese Tartars, the Chinese Koreans, and the Xibos, and even lower than that of the Han nationality. There were about 12,000 Hezhen citizens in the early 18th century.