Turks & Caicos, 1973, 8 c. 14. multicoloured

Catalogues:
Michel: 324, block 2
Scott: 282, SS 285a
Stanley Gibbons: 398, MS402
Yvert et Tellier: 307, block 2

The Brig Grand Turk, 18 guns, was the third ship of that name. She was constructed as a privateer and launched in late 1812. She was purchased by a group of Salem and Boston men and commissioned on 28 January by President Madison to «cruise against the enemies of the United States.» Privateers were an important part of the U.S. war effort during the revolution and the war of 1812 because her formal navy was so miniscule in comparison to that of Great Britain. Primarily they attacked merchantmen and ran from armed ships of comparable or greater size.

The most serious battle fought by the Grand Turk came under the command of Captain Holton J. Breed when on 1 May 1814, latitude 50.30, longitude 23, at 1PM she encountered the Royal West India mail-packet Hinchinbroke, homeward bound from the West Indies to England.

Plots: Piracy