Canal Zone and Panama Aerophilately and Philately Associated with the First Byrd Antarctic Expedition (Bae I),1928 to 1930

At the offset, a member of the American Society of Polar philatelists implied that Canal Zone philately associated with the First Byrd Antarctic Expedition (BAE I), between 1928 and 1930, wasn't a worthy enough subject to write about. Having been a long-term resident of the Canal Zone and an expert on its aerophilately and philately, the writer was challenged to prove otherwise. Which of us overwhelmed the other is left to the reader to decide. Not currently known by others, and which recognition should become increasingly obvious throughout this Monograph, is that within the former American Canal Zone there was a swarm of ardent philatelists belonging to the Caribbean Stamp Club. Prominent among them were Gerald D. Bliss, Postmaster, Cristobal Post Office, Colonel Maximino Walker, Chief of the Republic of Panama Fire Department; Judge Edward I. P. Tatleman, who was to write the official history of Canal Zone philately; and lesser so, Robert W. Barr and A. W. French who were devoted aerophilatelists and first day cover enthusiast and makers. Unlikely that any other stamp club in the world can boost that two of its members, Bliss and Walker, were internationally honored by having their portrait appear on postage stamps. Colonel Walker was recognized for making his fire department a world-class fire-fighting organization. Postmaster Bliss appeared on a Pitcairn Island postage stamp, issued in April 2003, for his contribution to opening that remote Pacific island speck to the world of postal communications. The SS City of New York, which was BAE I's lead support ship and official United States Postal facility, entered the Canal Zone on September 15, 1928 to transit the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, and until her second and last transit on June 3, 1930, when she returned to New York City, she and BAE I were extensively involved in making philatelic history within the Canal Zone and Panama. (Covers serviced by BAE I's second official post office aboard the SS Eleanor Bolling, are also included as well as those pertaining to the BAE I's third support ship, the SS C. A. Larsen.) Another contributing factor was that the bulk of all BAE I mail destined for most of the world was serviced by the Canal Zone Postal Service. The Canal Zone Postal Service, via Dunedin, New Zealand, was one of five focal points for dispatch of BAE I mail. The other four were Papeete, Tahiti, Dunedin, while the SS New York was abeam of Scott Island, below the Antarctic Circle, and while she was moored alongside of the Ross Ice Shelf, abeam of Little America, which was BAE I's main base. Relative to the Canal Zone, the roles of each of these other focal points is touched upon, but that of Dunedin deserves more profound mention in this Monograph. It is also significant to mention that while the SS New York was moored abeam of Little America, as a branch of the United States Post Office Department. She was applying her official postmark on stamps of the United States and the Canal Zone in a geographic position that was further south than any other postal facility in the world. In addition, this United States post office was in Antarctic territory claimed by the British Empire. Such tidbits of information are important to know since it stimulates our philatelic collecting interests.