Antarctic Philately
Tangra 1091 Post Office Souvenir Sheet 10 Years of Bulgarian Antarctic Cartography
Tangra 1091 Post Office
TANGRA 1091 POST OFFICE BULGARIAN POSTS PLC
Operational 25th November 2004 - 11th January 2005 Camp Academia
1091 Tangra
Livingston Island
Antarctica
The post office Antarktika-Tangra 1091 of the Bulgarian Posts Plc was operated under a standard contract for a temporary post office according to the normal traditional practice and regulations of the Bulgarian Posts.
The Tangra 1091 post office is the second and southernmost Bulgarian post office in Antarctica. (The first one was the post office at the Bulgarian base St. Kliment Ohridski established 10 Antarctic seasons earlier, also as the result of an initiative by Lyubomir Ivanov endorsed by the Bulgarian Posts.)
Address: Camp Academia; 1091 Tangra; Livingston Island; Antarctica
Location: Camp Academia, 62°38'41.9" South Latitude, 60°10'18.3" West Longitude, situated at 541 m above sea level on the ice of upper Huron Glacier in central Tangra Mountains, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Western Antarctica.
The Post Office was functional during the entire duration of the Tangra 2004/05 Survey in Antarctica , from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005 ; Camp Academia itself was set up on 3-8 December 2004 and continuously occupied until 2 January 2005.
Statistics exists for the outgoing mail: A total of 517 mail consignments (letters and postcards) distributed geographically between 30 country destinations as follows:
Bulgaria 146;
Germany 144;
Belgium 54;
Chile 50;
Britain 18;
U.S.A. 15;
Spain 13;
New Zealand 11;
France 9;
Argentina 7;
Australia 7;
Austria 7;]
Switzerland 7;
Falkland Islands 5;
Antarctica ( Livingston Island ) 3;
Afghanistan 2;
Czech Republic 2;
Italy 2;
Japan 2;
Portugal 2;
Uruguay 2;
Denmark 1;
Greece 1;
Indonesia 1;
Iraq 1;
Montserrat 1;
Slovakia 1;
Slovenia 1;
South Africa 1;
Vanuatu 1.
These 517 pieces of mail were shipped as follows: 364 of them via Sofia ; 150 via Punta Arenas ; and 3 via St. Kliment Ohridski post office (to other Livingston Island addressees).
Cancellation was not made on specific days but on any day when letters were posted in the office, thus cancellations exist for various dates between 25 November 2994 and 11 January 2005 .
Lyubomir Ivanov was the Postmaster responsible for operating the post office of Antarktika-Tangra 1091.
The mail (i.e. its post stamps) was cancelled by a standard circular Bulgarian postal cancellation cachet (metal issue) with an inscription POSTE BULGARE ANTARKTIKATANGRA 1091 on its periphery and date/hour counter in the centre.
Other occasional cachets applied on Tangra 1091 mail often included the triangular cachet of Camp Academia with the inscription ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION TANGRA 2004 CAMP ACADEMIA and/or other personal, base and ship cachets.
Mail sent from the Tangra 1091 Post Office might also have cancellations from transit Sofia and Punta Arenas postal services, dated 14 June 2005 and 14 January 2005 respectively.
The prevailing weather in Tangra Mountains was harsh, and the facilities at Camp Academia being fairly basic, the mail was kept and processed in conditions of considerable dampness and physical inconvenience. The mail shipped via Sofia suffered a five-month delay due to its slow transportation in Argentina, resulting in further damage.
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