Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built by welded steel, and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped.

Types

Cargo ships/freighters can be divided into five groups, according to the type of cargo they carry. These groups are:

General cargo vessels carry packaged items like chemicals, foods, furniture, machinery, motor- and military vehicles, footwear, garments, etc.

Tankers carry petroleum products or other liquid cargo.

Dry bulk carriers carry coal, grain, ore and other similar products in loose form.

Ship cover

In philately, a ship cover is a cover that was mailed aboard a ship, while a naval cover is one posted on a navy vessel. Shipboard postal facilities are ubiquitous on ships of any size, although the "post office" may consist only of an alcove and a sailor working it part-time.

Ship covers usually carry a paquebot postmark and/or a postmark unique to the vessel. Collectors of ship covers will look for different types used at different periods, as well as for covers indicating routing through particular ports, and so forth.

The Universal Ship Cancellation Society, founded in 1932, specializes in the study of naval covers, particularly those of the US Navy.

Egypt 1876, ship cover showing red boxed 'Paquebot' postmark.

Egypt 1876, ship cover showing red boxed 'Paquebot' postmark.

USA 1933, cacheted naval cover postmarked on the battleship USS Colorado (BB-45) during Fleet Week, August 1933. Stamps are the Century of Progress issued several months earlier, and a 1/2c Washington Bicentennial from 1932.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港; "Fragrant Harbour"), officially Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea. Hong Kong is known for its skyline and deep natural harbour. It has a land area of 1104 km² and shares its northern border with Guangdong Province of Mainland China. With around 7.2 million inhabitants of various nationalities, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises.

After the First Opium War (1839–42), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong remained under British control for about a century until the Second World War, when Japan occupied the colony from December 1941 to August 1945. After the Surrender of Japan, the British resumed control. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy on 1 July 1997 under the principle of one country, two systems. Disputes over the perceived misapplication of this principle have contributed to popular protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Revolution.

Lego Pirates

Pirates is a Lego theme launched in 1989 featuring pirates, soldiers, islanders and sailing ships. The theme has been seen in minifigure scale, Duplo and the 4+ theme.

The original Pirates sets included the first Lego minifigures without the traditional head with simply two eyes and a smile; they had a variety of different printed features including hair, eyepatches and facial hair.

Alongside the Pirates released for 1989 were Governor Broadside's blue-coated troops who were to fight the Pirates. These forces were based upon the French navy and marines of the colonial era, being known as "Imperial Soldiers" by fans, though explicitly identified as "Governors" on page 16 of the 1990 American catalog. A comic book entitled "The Gold Medallion" was also released in that year, as well as a Ladybird Book series. From 1992-93, the Governors were gradually replaced by the red-coated Imperial Guards, while existing Governors sets that continued in production were considered part of the Guards. Both the Governors and the Imperial Guards used two crossed cannons under a crown as their emblem.

On Stranger Tides

On Stranger Tides is a 1987 historical fantasy novel written by Tim Powers. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and placed second in the annual Locus poll for best fantasy novel.

On Stranger Tides takes place during the Golden Age of Piracy. It features real historical figures like Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, and Woodes Rogers alongside fictional ones, as actors in the fictional John Chandagnac's quest to reclaim his inheritance and rescue an Englishwoman. Vodun magic is an important plot device.

The story was also the inspiration for the Monkey Island video game series by LucasArts and for the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Plot

In 1718, French puppeteer John Chandagnac sails to Jamaica on the British ship Vociferous Carmichael. He aims to confront his uncle Sebastian, who has apparently stolen a fortune that rightfully belonged to John's father and could have prevented his poverty-induced death. Onboard, he meets an Englishwoman named Elizabeth Hurwood, who complains that her erudite father Benjamin has abandoned his natural philosophy work and begun studying dark magic with her lecherous physician Leo Friend. The pirate sloop Jenny menaces the Carmichael, neutralizing its powerful cannons with vodun magic. Benjamin Hurwood and Friend begin shooting their fellow passengers, revealing them as allies of the pirates, as the assailants board and seize the Carmichael.