First Indian Circumnavigation
A commemorative postage stamp on the 1st Indian Sailing Expedition around the World 1985-87: Trishna, a Swan 37 training yacht of Indian Army :
Issued by India
Issued on Jan 10, 1987
Issued for : The Department of Posts is happy to issue a special stamp on TRISHNA, the First Indian Army Expedition of sailing around the World.
Description of Designs : The 650p multicolour stamp has been designed by India Security Press, Nashik Road. The stamp depicts the yacht ‘TRISHNA’ showing the route the sailing expedition had taken. The cancellation has been designed by Miss Nenu Bagga.
Type : Stamp, Postal Used
Colour : Multicolour
Denomination : 650 Paise
Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.
Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.
Perforation : 13 x 13
Paper : Imported unwatermarked P.G. coated and gummed stamp paper
Number printed : 15,00,000
Number per issue sheet : 35
Printing Process : Photogravure
Printed at : India Security Press
About :
- The First Indian Army Expedition sailing around the world in a small 37 feet approximately fibre glass yacht named TRISHNA sailed off from Bombay on 28th September, 1985. The Expedition has gained historical significance being the first of its kind in Indian sailing history.
- The team comprised ten officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. They covered a distance of approximately 50,000 kms in 1½ years. There was a total crew of six officers on the boat. Out of these six, four officers sailed around the world, whereas the others changed at intermediate ports enroute.
- The team having been flagged off by the then Chief of the Army Staff, Late Gen. A.S. Vaidya, PVSM, MVC, AVSM, ADC on 28th September, 1985 from Bombay touched Male (Maldives), Port Louis (Mauritius), St. Helena, Ascension Island, Natal & Belem (Brazil), Paramaribo (Surinam), Georgetown (Guyana), Port of Spain (Trinidad), Barbados, Kingston (Jamaica), and crossed through the Panama canal on 26th February, 1986. Setting sail again from Panama on 5 April ’86 they touched Galapagos Islands, Marquesas Island, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Fiji, Auckland, Sydney, Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Colombo and returned back to Bombay.
- Trishna, which means an urge to attain and accomplish a deep routed desire, is 36 feet 6 inches in length, 10 feet 9 inches in width, has a draught of 6 feet 1 inch, with a gross weight of 10.5 tons. It has been built by Nautor of Finland and designed by Sparkman and Stephen. It has a sloop rig, a long keel and a skeg making it very sea worthy in rough weather. Trishna is fitted with the basic cruising equipment like a depth sounder, wind instruments, speed log radio direction finder, VHF and HF radios, a six man life raft and other safety equipment. Her 50 gallon water capacity has been increased to 130 gallons.
- The team went through very rough weather in the Indian Ocean and sailed through two severe storms around the tip of Madagascar and while rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Also the flat calms of the equatorial doldrums enroute to Mauritius made them drift 300 miles off course. From Tahiti onwards the weather turned rougher and rougher in the winter of the Southern Hemisphere. They ran into storms between Fiji and Auckland, which ripped their main and their jib sails. The reverse main sail was also ripped apart the journey across the Tasman Sea from Auckland to Sydney was the worst so far, when they encountered winds over 120 kmph and waves over 40 feet high. Close encounters with whales off the South Africa Coast and between Fiji and Auckland, sharks and dolphins, seals, and numerous other sea and land life, and at Galapagos Islands, where Darwin wrote the theory of evolution, was very interesting. The members of the expedition are:
1. Col TPS Chowdhry – Team Manager, 2. Maj KS Rao, SM – Skipper, 3. Maj A Bhattacharya, 4. Maj SN Mathur, 5. Maj AP Singh SM, 6. Maj AK Singh SM, 7. Capt R Bassi, 8. Capt S Shekhar, 9. Capt C Bharti, 10. Lt. N. Ahuja. - Text : Courtesy Col Chowdhry, Team Manager.
