The Holy Land contains the Dead Sea, the lowest level of land on Earth. Proving that and exploring the possibilities of it was left to outsiders. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp is an interesting piece of history and the stamp is well printed. What also is interesting is who is doing the scientific exploration that is being rightly celebrated. An American/Confederate Naval man, an Irish Catholic Priest and a Scottish adventurer who popularized canoeing are represented. Notice that none are local Jews or for that matter Arabs. Scientific advances are the prevue of the most advanced civilizations, here is an example of that.
The stamp today is issue A417, a 50 Agorot stamp issued by Israel on November 24th, 1987. It was part of a three stamp issue that also came as a souvenir sheet the honored three 19th century Holy Land explorers. In this stamp the 1847 exploration of the Dead Sea by a United States Navy Expedition under Captain William Francis Lynch is honored. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.
Captain Lynch was from Virginia and lead the exploration of the Dead Sea. By using triangulation, he was able to prove that the Dead Sea was indeed below sea level. This had been hypothesized before. The aspect of being below sea level changes temperature and cloud cover/ Solar ultraviolet rays enough that if effects the ability to maintain life, which is where the name Dead Sea derives. The unique conditions lead to substances not present elsewhere, many of which have medicinal value. The 16 man expedition had better luck than the other expeditions celebrated on this issue of stamps.
The expedition of Irish Priest Christopher Costigan ran out of water and Costigan resorted to drinking the extremely salted Dead Sea water. It made him sick and that ended his exploration. He was taken to a monastery to recover but when they tried to transfer him to a hospital in Jerusalem, Father Costigan died on the long donkey journey.
John MacGregor, the Scottish adventurer was captured by Arab villagers who lifted his canoe out of the water while he attempted to fight them off with his oar.
Captain Lynch himself had trouble on a later expedition to East Africa where he contracted malaria. He survived that and when the American Civil War broke out he resigned from the United States Navy and fought with the Confederate States of America Navy, including at the battle of Vicksburg. He ended up in a Union prisoner of war camp. He died in 1865 shortly after being given his parole.
Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to toast the adventures who strike out against all the danger to expand mankind’s knowledge. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.