Design errors

Motion and Transportation

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Opposite flags Flags in opposite direction ! (BELGIAN CONGO - 1949)


Unmanned boat ! An unmanned boat with sail in the wind seemed a little bit too dangerous. So the stamp was redesigned, this time with a sailor in the boat (FIJI - 1938)


Wrong ship By mistake, the S.Y. THE MORNING was pictured on this stamp instead of the S.Y. NIMROD. A new stamp was issued, with the same name, but this time with the correct ship. (AUSTRALIAN ANTARTIC TERRITORIES - 1980)


Dangerous ship The merchant ship S.S. Rodina is pictured in open sea, with its derricks still up. They should of course have been lowered and lashed before leaving the harbour. (BULGARIA - 1947)


Dangerous boat Rowing boat in turbulent water, without oars ! (BELGIUM - 1927)


Uncertain wind The wind blows the sails of those ships in different, and even opposite directions (BAHAMAS - 1967)


Uncertain wind The wind blows the sails and the flags in opposite directions (ITALY - 1950)


Anchored ship Sailing ship under full sail, whilst at anchor (NEW ZEALAND - 1947)


Against the rules According to the international rules, ships may only hoist a flag at the front when they are anchored in a harbor. (ITALY - 1932)


Magic ship How could this ship pass the bridge, as the ship pipe is much taller than the bridge ? (NORWAY - 1981)


Wrong registration The H37 does not exist in Lundy. Another stamp, depicting the same ship, shows its correct registration number : H57 (LUNDY - 1969)


Strange wind. The wind blows the sails in diffferent directions. (SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON - 1942)


Strange wind. Flags and sails are blown by the wind in different directions. (GERMANY - 1965)


Not fixed sails. The sails are not fixed to the mast of this sailboat. (ADEN - )


Inefficient wind Although the wind fills the sail, this sailboat remains straight on the water (FRANCE - 1965)


Strange wind. The wind blows the sails in diffferent directions. (KUWAIT - 1964)


Sailship in storm. During a storm (look at the waves), the big sails of a ship are never hoisted. (POLAND - 1925)


Big ship Why did Colombus trip to America take weeks, as his ship covers the whole distance between the two continents. (PANAMA - )


Opposite winds Sail and flag are blown by the wind in different directions (DENMARK - 1937)


Wrong name A pennant on Fultons steamboat on the Hudson river gives it the name of CLERMONT. In fact it was simply registered as North River Steamboat of Claremont, and had no name. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1909)


Incorrect number Stamp featuring the aircraft carrier FORRESTAL with deck number 88, which is not correct. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1957)


Wrong design The Dorchester sunk with the stem first, not with the stern as depicted on this commemorative stamp. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1948)


Interesting detail Stamp featuring the US Fregate OLD IRONSIDES. A careful inspection reveals that the 2 flanking canons bear the British Royal Cypher GR (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1947)


Wrong side ! Stamp picturing the Destroyer Reuben James sunk by a German submarine … seen from a periscope which experts say never was on a German submarine, but belongs to an Allied ship ! (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1991)


Fantome ship. Ship navigating under full sail, but no crew is visible ! (BARBADOS - 1953)


Wrong representation When the ship of T. Heyerdahl arrived at Barbados, it was highly damaged, and the central mast and sail had disappeared (BARBADOS - 1986)


Forgotten mast This huge sail is not sustained by a mast. (ESTONIA - 1919)


Incertain wind. Wind blows the sails and the flag in different directions. (GHANA - 1957)


Opposite directions. Flags in opposite direction. (GREECE - 1971)


Not fixed sails. The sail is not correctly attached. The stamp was slightly redesigned. (KENYA UGANDA TANZANIA - 1935)


Big trouble This ship is about to run in serious trouble : the bow wave shows that she is proceeding upstream to enter the lock, but the door is still closed and the water level in the lock is still high. (LUXEMBOURG - 1964)


Wrong name The lake steamer CHAUNCY MAPLES had his name wrongly spelled as CHAUNCEY MAPLES. The name however was given correctly on a sheet (MALAWI - 1975)


Steerless. The design of this stamp was slightly adapted, as in the first design, nobody was streering the boat. (MALAYA - 1960)


Impossible shield. A viking ship protected by shields on see ? Impossible for the rowers to do their job. (ISLE OF MAN - )


Missing detail. The whale that is about to be harponed, has a good chance of getting away, as there is no rope attatched to the harpoon. (NEW ZEALAND - 1956)


Wrong direction The wind in the sails goes in the opposite direction of the smoke from the chimney (SWITZERLAND - 1978)


Sun at night The man on the Nautilus' deck is busy taking the altitude of the sun ....in the moon light. (FRANCE - 1955)


Full speed Ship 'Constitutionen' is navigating at full speed inside Arendal harbour. At this speed, she will not be able to stop in time and will crash into the quay. (NORWAY - 1977)


Wrong direction The position of the fishing lines shows that the boat is moving backwards. (ANTIGUA - 1976)


Wrong name Wrong : HANNA - Correct : HANNAH (MALAGASY - 1975)


Wrong denomination The PS Canberra and the PS Murray River Queen are not steamships, but equipped with diesel engines. (AUSTRALIA - 1979)


High speed A jetfoil cannot reach high speeds near the coastline, and thus cannot plane above the water surface. (AUSTRALIA - 1979)


Different winds Sails and flags are not flying in the same direction. (GABON - 1968)


Dangerous position There are no seats in a canoé, the occcupants are seated on the bottom. (CANADA - 1957)


Missing flag The Chilean flag was forgotten on this stamp. This was corrected bu the issue of a new stamp with another value. (CHILE - 1978)


Missing rope The most important rope to maintain the sails is missing. (BAHRAIN - 1987)


Missing rope The most important rope to maintain the sails is missing. Correct on the other stamp. (BAHRAIN - 1967)


Missing rope The most important rope to maintain the sails is missing. Correct on the other stamp. (BAHRAIN - 1987)


Error in name In 1870, the Robert E. Lee won a famed steamboat race against the Natchez, going from St. Louis, Missouri to New Orleans, NATCHEZ is written NATCHES on the stamp. (BHUTAN - 1989)


Twin ships Fishery race between the Bluenose and the Columbia. As there was no illlustration available for the Columbia, the Bluenose stood model for the 2 vessels. And the winner had n° 1 in his sails, not 2. (CANADA - 1929)


Wrong name The name of this ship was MATHEW or MATHEWE, she was never called MATTHEW. (CANADA - 1949)


Wrong name The exact name of this ship is HMS IMPERIEUSE, not HMS IMPERIOUS. (CHRISTMAS ISLANDS - 1973)


For decoration Titanic with four smoking funnels, anly three were in use, the foutrh one was fake. (JERSEY - 2012)


Wrong type of ship The 90-gun warship shown on a stamp issued in 1951 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Naval Officers' College is out of place, as Danmark had no such warships in 1701. (DENMARK - 1951)


Wrong ship In the catalogues this stamp is described as 'Cruiser Ingolf'. This is not correct. as the real Ingolf can be seen on a stamp from 1909. (DANISH WEST INDIES - 1905)


Opposite directions The flag and sails are pushed by the wind in opposite directions. (DANTZIG - 1921)


Wrong représentation Stamp showing the ship Admiral Graf Spee during the second war. However the ship is featured as it was before being rebuilt in 1939 (the searchlights were removed). (FALKLAND ISLANDS - 1974)


Very slow This canoe is supposed to come forward in the picture, but this is not visible on the water. (FIJI - 1938)


Never completed The Clémenceau was never completed. He was bombed and destroyed when he was still under construction. (FRANCE - 1939)


Wrong ship This battleship is not La Capricieuse, the stamp was made from a design of another ship, La Galathée. (FRANCE - 1955)


Six or seven ? The Kaizer's yacht, the Hohenzollern, with seven davits for three lifeboats on the small design, but correcty six on the larger stamp of the same series. (GERMAN COLONIES - 1918)


Inverted sign The seeman is signalling a letter that cannot be found in the flagbooks. In mirror however, it suddently stands for a I or 9. (GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC - 1962)


Missing parts The aerials were omitted on the stamp. (FINLAND - 1929)


Wrong ship This Hessund bridge is connectiong two islands. The boat featured on the stamp is the M/S Roine, whitch never operated at sea, only on lakes. (FINLAND - 1963)


Two différences The owner's flag was not triangular but had a square shape. And a white line was painted all along the ship. (GERMANY - 1977)


Not the same The H.M.S. Royalist had only five, and not eight gunports at each side, and a low almost invisible funnel. (GILBERT AND ELLICE ISLANDS - 1967)


Missing crew With full sails in open sea, without crew ! (GUINEA BISSAU - 1988)


Impossible The Vikings could not have sailed with their shields hanging outside, they would have fallen off or hindered the rowing. Correct on other stamp. (ISLE OF MAN - 1974)


Opposite directions The wind blows the sails and the flag in opposite directions. (MONACO - 1949)


Dangerous landing Sailboats with deployed sails close to the border. Futhermore this landing took place in 1779, not 1770. (FRANCE - 1980)


Never fired The Swedish ship VASA only sailed for a few minutes before it capsized and sunk. Thus never was her cannons fired. (PARAGUAY - 1976)


Same name The 'Fairlie' who wrecked in 1840 was a small sailing boat. The Fairlie featured on the stamp howver is a 765-ton bark which was still in use in 1865, with the same name. (NORFOLK - 1982)


Floating wheels The wheels of this amphibious vehicle should have been pictured at least partially covered by water. (URUGUAY - 1995)


Wrong ship The ship that installed the undersee cable between Portugal and England was not the featured Great Eastern, but the Hibernia. (PORTUGAL - 1970)


Big smoke The Pilsudski do not emit such a big smoke, which will not allow the passengers to stay in open air. (POLAND - 1925)


Only one The 'Fin-Dinghy' is a little sailboat for only one people, not two as showed on the stamp. (ROMANIA - 1963)


Wrong ship This is not the Van Riebeeck's ship the Dromaderis, but a Dutch ship of a much later date. Shio with full sails, but surrounded by boats. (SOUTH AFRICA - 1926)


Moving but connected Sailing ship alongside the shore, with full sails, to which a gangplank is extended. (TURKS AND CAICOS - 1900)


Wrong type The bark Grapeshot is wrongly called a schooner. Schooners do njot have squaerigged sails. (TURKS AND CAICOS - 1983)


Missing crew Sailing ship with deployed sails, without any visible crew. (SAINT HELENA - 1967)


Without crew Sailing ship with deployed sails, without any visible crew. (PITCAIRN ISLANDS - 1964)


Too much smoke The Dominion Monarch had one false funnel, on the stamp however, smoke is coming out of both. (NEW ZEALAND - 1946)


Wrong side The rugboat going upstream on the Rhine is breaking the regulations by being on the left side instead of the right of the river. (RHEINLAND PFALZ - 1947)


Wrong skyline Lower Manhattan skyline appears to have been put onto Staten Island : de designer of the stamp took a postcard showing the arrival of the Kronprinz Wilhelm on her maiden voyage 23rd Feb 1902, and added wrongly the Manhattan skyline. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1912)


Opposite directions The flag points in the opposite direction of the smoke of the steamship. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1922)


Wrong location This is not the representation of a lock on the Ohio River, but was taken from a photo of 1920 which showw the Carneige Steel Company's sternwheeler, H.D. Williams in a lock on the Monongahela River. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1929)


Strange With full sails and no visible crew, so cloge to the border, is at least unusual. (FRANCE - )


Not the first The first ship crossing the Atlantic entirely under steam was the Royal William in 1833. The Savannah had also sails, and in fact steamed for only eight hours. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1944)


Anachronism Commemoration of the landing of the immigrants in 1840 from the barques Tory and Cuba, and the ship Aurora. The ships are illustrated with double topsails, which did not come into use until 1855. (NEW ZEALAND - 1940)


Wrong ship, wrong year Stamp showing the Koenigsberg at Aldabra in 1915. However the ship that was portrayed is in fact the Koenigsberg II, and the date should have been 1914, not 1915. (SEYCHELLES - 1969)


Additional mast The British settlers arrived in Natal on the two masted ship, the WANDERER. On the stamp a third mast was added. (SOUTH AFRICA - 1949)


Better knot. As this was not a proferssional way to attach a boat, a new stamp was issued, but this time the boat was attached with a good fisherman's knot (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1993)


Complicated winds There is no coordination between the wind in the sails and in the flags. (SWEDEN - 1936)


Dangerous Quite a dangerous position : standing in a boat while passing rapids ! (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1969)


Still sailing Ship still sailing with full sails, too close to the shore. How could a part of the crew haver left the boat ? (COOK ISLANDS - )


Mixed up The names on the ships were mixed up : the Zuiderman is the Star Princess, and the Star Princess is the Zuiderman. (URUGUAY - 2006)


Opposite winds Flag and sails in opposite directions. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1893)


Opposite directions Sails and flags in opposite directions (CHILE - 1970)


Strange winds The sails and the flags are driven by contrary winds. (GERMANY - 1998)


Missing crew Ship navigating under full sail, but no crew is visible ! (MOZAMBIQUE - 1963)


Wrong ship According to Samoan press release, this USS Swan served in Samoan waters during World War II. The stamp however shows a ship built in 1947 with the same name. (SAMOA - 1986)


Opposite directions The wind pushes flags and sails in opposite directions. (GABON - 1968)


Opposite directions The wind pushes flags and sails in opposite directions. (CHILE - 1970)


Wrong direction As this ship is sailing, the smoke cannot leave the funnel as faetured on the stamp. See painting of this ship with a more correct representation. (NETHERLANDS - 1973)


Contrary winds Sails and flags are not flying in the same direction. Correct on ohter stamp od this series. (GERMANY - 1977)


Wrong direction Wrong direcrion of ssmoke comparing to the sails. (BARBADOS - 1979)


One too much The Nina, as the two other ships of Columbus, had only two masts. (BULGARIA - 1992)


Missing crew Ship in open sea without crew. (BENIN - 1997)


Missing crew Ship in open sea without crew. (BENIN - 1999)


Missing crew Ship in open sea without crew. (BENIN - 1999)


Missing crew Ship with full sails in open sea without crew. (PHILIPPINES - )


Different winds Sails are pushed by the wind in different directions. (GRENADA GRENADINES - 1976)


Strange winds Sails and flags are not flying in the same direction. (GABON - 1968)


Different winds Sails and flags are pushed by the wind in didderent directions. (YUGOSLAVIA - )


Contrary winds Sails and flags are not flying in the same direction. (CHILE - 1970)


Contrary winds Sails and flag are pushed by the wind in different directions (ASCENSION - )


Missing crew Sailboats with full sails and in open see without visible crew. (GUINEA BISSAU - 1988)


Too close These big ships are much too close to the beach. (UNITED NATIONS - )


Opposite directions Flag and sails are pushed by the wind in opposite directions. (UNITED NATIONS - )


Dangerous The boats are still on the sand, while the sails are already deployed in the wind. (BAHAMAS - )


Wrong colours The colors of this ship from the Greek Chandris lines are not correct. (GREECE - 1967)


Missing flag On one of the stamps, the flag that must flying at the sterm of a ship in open water, was forgotten. (UNITED NATIONS - 1964)


Missing lasts The first Canadian steamer, built by J. Molson, was also equipped with two masts. (CANADA - 1986)


Opposite directions The smoke and the flags are pushed by the wind in opposite directions (CANADA - 1978)


Schip aan anker, met volle zeilen. Anchored ship with full sails, (LIBERIA - 1923)


Additional mast The Nina, used by Columbus for his discovering trip to America had only two masts. (ANDORRA - 1992)


Missing crew Ship in open sea without crew. (BENIN - 1997)


Missing crew Ship in open sea without crew. (GERMANY - 1977)


Wrong ship FDC commemorating a Danubian Basin conference : the old ship showed in the postmark was never in use on the Danube river. (CROATIA - 1998)


Strange decision The flag is flying in strong wind, but the sailors are not sailing, ... they row ! (CROATIA - 1998)


Unattended boats Those unattended boats are not fixed, and will drift away at the slightest wave. (IVORY COAST - )


Dangerous situation Ship under full sail much too close to the border and other ships. (THAILAND - 2004)


Wrong fixing Ship with rwo mast not fixed in line (BULGARIA - )


Wrong canal The Suez canal has no locks ! This stamp represents a lock on the Panama canal. (EGYPT - 2014)


Full sails The passengers are leaving a sailboat with full deployed sails. (EQUATORIAL GUINEA - )


Missing shadow The shadow of one of the crew members is missing (ETHIOPIA - 1947)


Missing crew On open water, without crew (PORTUGAL - 1985)


Opposite wind Flag and sails are pointing in opposite directions (DENMARK - 1998)


Too close Ship with full sails close too the border (NICARAGUA - 1984)


Lonely One one crew member on this ship is far too less (KAMPUCHEA - 1986)


Missing crew Where is the crew ? (KAMPUCHEA - 1986)


Not in use Only three chimneys of the Titanic were in use. The fourth one was only for decoration (ANGOLA - 1998)