R.M.S. Lady Nelson

The Lady Nelson was one of six stamps in a set of
"Ships in Dominican History" issued on September 1, 1975.

The Lady Nelson was featured on Saint Vincent
Grenadines' 3 cent definitive issued on January 28, 1982.

The Lady Nelson appeared on one of four "Ships"
stamps issued by Trinidad and Tobago on August 20, 1985.

The Lady Nelson appeared on one of two stamps issued
by Barabados on May 2, 1986 to mark Expo '86, Vancouver.

The Lady Nelson, the subject of insurance claims after it was torpedoed in Castries harbour in 1942, is featured
on the 60 cent denomination of Saint Lucia's 300th Anniversary of Lloyd's of London issue of October 17, 1988. The ship
was refloated and is seen on this stamp painted for service as a hospital ship after being refitted in Mobile, Alabama.

The Lady Nelson is depicted on a Photo Engraving Company (PECO) post card based on a 1935 painting by Scottish born
Canadian painter William Rigg. Although the description on the back is a generic description of all of the "Lady Boats"
the name of the ship is printed in the margin of the card and it appears on the hull of the ship in the painting.

Lady Nelson was built in 1928 by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead, on the Wirral in England. Like her sister "Lady Boats"¯, Lady Nelson was an oil-burner, with a set of four Cammell Laird steam turbines driving the propeller shafts to twin screws by single-reduction gearing. She had three passenger decks, and by 1931 she was equipped with a direction finding device. CN introduced the liners for mail, freight and passenger traffic between Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Lady Nelson along with Lady Hawkins and Lady Drake were designed to serve the eastern islands of the British West Indies with larger passenger capacity but lesser cargo capacity than Lady Rodney and Lady Somers built for service to western islands. The introduction of the ships coincided with the opening of the Pier 21 ocean liner terminal in Halifax intended to give Canada a competitive presence in Atlantic travel. Every two weeks Lady Nelson sailed between Halifax and British Guiana via Boston, Bermuda, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands and Barbados, extending to the port of Montreal in summer. Lady Nelson was torpedoed by U-161 while alongside at Castries, St. Lucia. Fifteen passengers and three crewmen were killed and the ship sank at the wharf. It was refloated and towed to Mobile, Alabama for repairs. The Canadian government decided to convert Lady Nelson to a hospital ship to repatriate Canadian wounded. Although informally called HMCS or HMCHS Lady Nelson, she remained owned by CN Steamships, under charter by National Defence. Completed as a hospital ship in April 1943, Lady Nelson had an operating theatre, x-ray machine and wards for 515 men. As a hospital ship, Lady Nelson made 30 crossings of the Atlantic and brought 25,000 wounded Canadians home. When fighting ended in Europe in June 1945, she was switched to returning Canadian soldiers and war brides. She returned to civilian duties in 1946, however declining passenger traffic due to air travel, high fuel consumption and rising labour costs made the "Lady Boats" too expensive to run. It was decided to replace them with motor vessels with smaller passenger capacity in 1951. In 1952 Lady Nelson and Lady Rodney were sold to Egyptian owners for $750,000. After being refitted at Alexandria and then renamed, they were used to carry passengers in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Under her new owner, the Khedivial Mail line, Lady Nelson was renamed Gumhuryat Misr, later becoming Alwadi in 1960 until she was scrapped in 1968.

Bermuda Paquebot Cover with handstamp from the R.M.S. Lady Nelson postmarked
June 4, 1929 franked with Canadian 2 cent King George V Admiral definitive stamp.

Bermuda Paquebot cancellation and "Come to Bermuda/Isles of Rest" slogan cancellation with handstamp from the R.M.S. Lady
Nelson postmarked Hamilton, Bermuda, March 1 1935 franked with Canadian 2 cent King George V medallion definitive stamp.

Kingston, Saint Vincent Paquebot Cover with handstamp from the R.M.S. Lady Nelson postmarked
September 7, 1937 franked with Antiqua's King George VI Coronation issue.

An advertisement from The Montreal Gazette of November 2, 1928 promoting Canadian National Steam Ship Lines
new "Lady" ships and announcing the first sailing from Halifax of the Lady Nelson scheduled for December 14th.

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