Writing in Linn's Stamp News (19 April 1999), Glen Stephens says, "Australia 99 had a strong maritime theme." Stephens goes on to illustrate how dealer stands were "oddly shaped boats" and those boats "radiated like a fleet at sea."

What Glen Stephens does not mention are the many new stamps issued for Australia 99 (March 19-24), all with a maritime heritage theme, glowing like beacons beckoning collectors in the same fashion as the sea called mariners of history.

Ireland and Canada participated in joint issues with Australia in what veteran collectors are calling an unusual event. It appears Ireland and Canada were working on stamps to honor the Polly Woodside and the Marco Polo respectively. What neither knew was Australia was doing likewise.

Ireland and Canada then set in motion procedures for joint issue souvenir sheets with the host nation. The Ireland/Australia sheet features a 30-pence Irish and a 25-cent Australian Polly Woodside while the Canada/Australia sheet has a 46-cent Canadian and an 85-cent Australian Marco Polo, which was built in Canada and made many trips from Britain to Australia. She was considered the fastest clipper ship on the seas in the 1850s. The Polly Woodside, built in Ireland for the coal and nitrate trade, plied the Australia-New Zealand route at the turn of the century.

Sweden got into the maritime heritage act for Australia 99 with four se-tenant 8-kronur stamps that depict an East Indies sailing ship, the schooner Mary Anne, the four-masted bark Beatrice, and the SS Australia.

Crown Agents Stamp Bureau of Great Britain, which represents at least 70 postal authorities worldwide, produced several Australia 99 stamps, all of which have a maritime theme.

Both the South Georgia and Kiribati souvenir sheets feature Captain James Cook's ship Resolution. Kiribati's stamp has Cook at Christmas Island where he landed December 24, 1777 while South Georgia put Cook's vessel in-the-ice in 1773. The Ascension Island and St. Helena souvenir sheets present HMS Endeavour, Cook's ship on his first voyage of discovery.

Falkland Islands features the SS Great Britain, Bahamas focuses on the 1776 American invasion of Fort Nassau, and Tuvalu commemorates the establishment of the first European settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788 with Captain Arthur Phillips' brig Supply. Tuvalu also issued four other stamps.

Four stamps from Samoa depict progress through an historic sequence with a dugout canoe; the Abel Janszoon Tasman ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen (1642); the Resolution and Adventure (1773); and a New Zealand Scow Schooner (1880). For Tristan da Cunha, the majestic vessels are Derwent (1895), Strathgryfe (1898), Celestial Empire (1898), and Lamorna (1902).

Pitcairn Islands celebrated the "down under" event with the "Archeological Expedition to Survey the Wreck of HMS Bounty." The four-stamp sheet depicts the Bounty and of its several relics in values ranging from 50 cents to $2.00.

The popularity of ships on stamps increases with a parade like this for Australia 99, and this listing is not complete. All the special issues for Australia 99 sported the logo on either the stamps or the souvenir sheets.

Ships on stamps account for thousands of items and several catalogs/handbooks for the specialist.