The Åland Post's Sailing Ship series achieved its halfway point, opening new horizons, too. The 2017 issue (the third out of six) brings forward two units which pioneered ocean tramping for their Baltic operators.

The barque Mariehamn (tonnage 490 grt) was the first Åland-owned vessel to circumnavigate the world in 1881-1882, carrying Swedish timber to South Africa and Australian guano to Denmark. With the full-rigger Mermerus (1,659 grt) we enter the 20th century; starting in 1900 she traded with every bulk cargo, including Chilean guano, across all three oceans.

Contrary to Mariehamn, safely sailing for 30 years, Mermerus was wrecked in 1909, but luckily the crew survived. We hope that the depicted three-masters forerun the much-desired motifs with ships from Gustaf Erikson's fleet. The most renowned Åland owner started his tall ships business in 1913, yet back in the 1890s he was just a 3rd mate on Mariehamn.