The Barque Sigyn

Sigyn, built in Göteborg 1887, now a museum ship in Turku, is the last remaining wooden barque used for trade across the oceans. At the time she was built there were thousands of similar vessels, but she was one of the last ones built. She was quite small even for her time, considering she was built for long-distance trade, but well built and considered fast and beautiful. In these times the steam ships were taking over the most important routes; the Suez canal was already built and the Panama canal was planned. The tonnage of steam ships passed that of sailing ships in 1890, ten and thirty years later in Sweden and Finland respectively. On the other hand this was the time when big barques of steel were built. Sigyn was planned for another niche: the small size and small draught made her suited to also use small remote harbours.

The first decade Sigyn sailed on the Atlantic on tramp trade, mostly with wood (pine, spruce, pitch pine, mahogany, cedar), but also e.g. coal, probably sugar, once even hay. In 1897 she made one journey to Bangkok. After 1900 she sailed mostly in European waters.

As representative for "nautical circles" Otto Andersson, rector of Åbo Akademi, proposed 1936 the foundation of a maritime museum in Turku. A museum ship was needed and Sigyn was soon considered the best alternative. At that time there were only a few museum ships worldwide and Sigyn was to be the first in Finland. The picture on the card is a painting of the Sigyn by R. Chappel and is in The Maritime Museum of the Abo Akademi. This card was sent to me by Sipi.

Far Eastern (Amur) leopard

There is unfortunately only one leopard subspecies left in Russia – the Far Eastern leopard. A relation, the Middle Eastern leopard, used to live at the same latitude in the Caucasus. However, despite regular reports of tracks found and even encounters with leopards in the area, the species is considered extinct and there is no chance of reintroducing it. The Far Eastern leopard is also now facing extinction. The body of the Far Eastern leopard varies between 90 and 170 cm in length and up to 60 kg in weight, and its tail can reach up to 100 cm. This is the northernmost leopard subspecies, and the only one in the world adapted to survive long snowy winters.

An international team led by biologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society had captured a species last week that carries the dubious distinction of being the world's most endangered big cat: an extremely Far Eastern leopard. One of only 30 left in the wild, the animal was captured in a "trapline" -- a series of snares set out by scientists to temporarily catch big cats for genetic analysis. And this my friends was in 2006! Thank you Sveta for sending me this lovely card with the picture of this rare animal.

The Mandarin Duck

This is really a wonderful card Sveta. And I must thank you for the wonderful stamps on the envelope. 

Now lets talk about this great duck. Boldly colored and with unusual feather shapes, the drake mandarin duck is widely considered to be the most beautiful duck in the world. In Chinese culture, a pair of these birds symbolizes love, martial fidelity and relationship respect, all admirable qualities that these ducks demonstrate during the mating season as they work together to raise their ducklings.

These perching ducks prefer wooded habitat near inland lakes and rivers, typically with deciduous trees and brushy cover for adequate shelter. Mandarin ducks are native to eastern Asia and can be found year-round in Japan and Taiwan, with their summer range extending to include eastern Russia and Mongolia. In winter, migratory populations of mandarin ducks can be found in eastern China.

The Mandarin ducks are the most popular, well known and widely used traditional feng shui cure for love. Note the word traditional, or classical feng shui, which means that a cure is based on culturally specific images, symbols and overall historical use.

Does that mean that you should use the Mandarin ducks as a feng shui cure if you are looking to attract a love partner? It depends on you. The best answer is this: "Choose the Mandarin ducks as a feng shui cure to attract love only if you genuinely, completely and absolutely feel the energy of love and devotion when you look at them."

The adult male is a striking and unmistakable bird. It has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". The breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back. The female is similar to female Wood Duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a small white flank stripe, and a pale tip to its bill. The Mandarin ducklings are almost identical in look to Wood ducklings, and appear very similar to Mallard ducklings. The ducklings can be distinguished from Mallard ducklings because the eye-stripe of Mandarin ducklings (and Wood ducklings) stops at the eye, while in Mallard ducklings it reaches all the way to the bill.

Still Beauty – Astafyev Cape

The Russian corvette  “America” became part of history for by discovering in June 18, 1859 the Nakhodka Bay about 85 km East of Vladivostok.   

Nakhodka Bay was discovered in 1859 by the Russian corvette "Amerika" ("America"), which sought shelter in the bay during a storm. The old name "Gulf of America" was officially changed into Gulf of Nakhodka in the heat of the Cold War in the late 1970s, only because it sounded as if it was named after the United States. Nakhodka is Russian for "a lucky find" or eureka. The name is a reference that for some act of nature, this is the only place on the Russian Pacific coast that the sea never freezes. As such, its harbors are superior even to those of a much larger port of Vladivostok. The first Russian settlement, the village Amerikanka, was founded in 1907 and named after the corvette.

The Cape at the eastern Nakhodka bay mouth was mapped as Mys (or Cape in English) Astafyev in 1859 in honour of the navigator of the “America”. Thank you Sveta for this pretty card. I had seen this cape during my visit to Nakhodka way back in history in 1968.

Turku Castle

Further to my earlier post on Turku Castle dated  Wednesday, May 09, 2012 I am posting another nice picture of the famous Turku Castle which is a monument of Finnish history situated in the city of Turku in Finland. Together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use in Finland. Turku Castle is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It stands as a national monument, on the banks of the Aura River, as it has done since the 14th century. My friend Barbara sent this nice card to me.

The Red Rock on Reineke Island

This Red Rock which looks like a sculptor’s masteroiece is situated on the  the small Reineke Island, which is located south-west of the Sea of Okhotsk between Shantarsky island and the Sakhalin Island, 5 km to the north of the mainland continent. Administratively it is part of the Nikolaev District of Khabarovsk Territory.

The island is the natural border between Udsky and Sakhalin bays. Both the island and the bay are named after the famous Russian hydrographer, vice-admiral and director of the Hydrographic Department Michail Reineke. And yes, this lovely card was given to me by Sveta from Khabarovsk.

The spotted seal

Sorry My Friend for disturbing you during your well earned siesta!

The spotted seal, also known as the larga or largha seal is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily found along the continental shelf of the Beaufort, Chukchi, Bering and Okhotsk Seas and south to the northern Yellow Sea and it migrates south as far as northern Huanghai and the western Sea of Japan. It is also found in Alaska from the southeastern Bristol Bay to Demarcation Point during the ice-free seasons of summer and autumn when spotted seals mate and have pups. Smaller numbers are found in the Beaufort Sea. It is sometimes mistaken for the harbor seal to which it is closely related and spotted seals and harbor seals often mingle together in areas where their habitats overlap.

The reduction in arctic ice floes due to global warming led to concerns that the spotted seal was threatened with extinction. Studies were conducted on its population numbers, with the conclusion, as of October 15, 2009, that the spotted seal population in Alaskan waters is not currently to be listed as endangered by NOAA.

Thank you Dear Sveta from Khabarovsk who has sent more than a dozen such beautiful cards of the Primorye, which I will be posting from time to time.