Making a Ship's Stamp

[stevensuf]

what do i put on it? ships name ssr number what else?

[Takamoana]

We put ship's name, official number and port of registry.
Gary

[svBeBe]

Suggest you have the stamp made to leave enough blank space inside the stamped area to sign your name. Many officials have wanted us to sign in their presence inside the boat's official stamp on their forms.

Of course, a self-inking stamp is always best.

Judy
S/V BeBe

[Pau Hana Daz]

We need to get one made too - Anybody have some samples and/or recommendations?

[barnakiel]

Ours has the name of the boat, the port, and the logo.

b.

[Me-and-Boo]

Re-opening this thread.
Now that I have a boat of my own, I am designing my ship's stamp. In my official job I get to see a lot of modern ship's stamps which gives me lots of design ideas.

Ship's stamps come in several styles. Circle and oval are the most common, although some old line ships are octagonal or star. Almost all are double line. The decorations usually have a couple stars, occasionally anchors, at the horizontal. The center may have a fouled anchor or some information regarding the ship, such as displacement and/or horsepower/kilovolts. The top usually has the ships name, such as S/V Big (shipping vessel Big) or M/T (motor tank, or M/V (motor vessel). We would usually use S/V for sailing vessel, or M/V for motor vessel or S/Y sailing yacht or M/Y for motor yacht. Along the bottom inside might be the owner company and port.

Ship's stamps come in various colors too. Black is most common; other colors are purple, green, red and blue.

And, a ship's seal is an official seal when used on documents. For my job when a ship's master stamps a signature line that is a formal and legal signature. Keep that in mind when you are using your seal/stamp.

My current design is a double line oval with five point stars at the horizontal ends of the center design; S/V Sisu across the top; a fouled anchor with a single stem rose over the stock with the stem curved the opposite from the rode with the stem end ending below the crown as the center design; between the double lines at the bottom is the ship's number and hailing port. The color is either going to be blue or purple. I may use a third inside oval to set the design apart from the name and port.

I have only a pencil sketch so far. More design work this week.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Me-and-Boo

Re-opening this thread.
My current design is a double line oval with five point stars at the horizontal ends of the center design; S/V Sisu across the top; a fouled anchor with a single stem rose over the stock with the stem curved the opposite from the rode with the stem end ending below the crown as the center design; between the double lines at the bottom is the ship's number and hailing port. The color is either going to be blue or purple. I may use a third inside oval to set the design apart from the name and port.

I have only a pencil sketch so far. More design work this week.

Consider a simple design... something that is impressive but simple.. remember who you will be dealing with in foriegn contries. I have two.. rectangle that is 3 curly q lines that make the rectangle (copperplate stuff) with my boats name top, doc # and hailing port bottom and a line thru the center with the words to the side. ''official seal" with room for me to sign my name as captain. Other is a large oval, boat name top, doc # hailing port bottom and a sloop mid center.. and a single line beneath to sign on .. I use one or the other depending on how I want to impress..

[pslive]

About what size are you making them?

[ahnutts!]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

what do i put on it? ships name ssr number what else?

Just curious if anyone can provide a list of countries that would deny entry to a vessel that doesn't have a ships stamp?

[Me-and-Boo]

Originally Posted by pslive

About what size are you making them?

Most are 1 inch with a few stretching to 1.5 inches.

The essentials are the ships name and port, I have seen a couple stamps with just that and a minor decoration such as a star or two in a single line square stamp. Many include the company name; I saw one that has the company name and not the ship name, not common.

Most stamps have more decoration and are circular or oval. Fouled anchors are very popular. A few have a plain anchor.

Mine is a variation of the Imperial Japanese Navy which was the fouled anchor with a Chrysanthemum over the stock. Very pretty yet a symbol of a very vicious regime at the time, 1942.

[Patient]

I couldn't find a list Me-and-Boo, but with a little google hacking I found this:
site:noonsite.com ship stamp - Google Search

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Patient

I couldn't find a list Me-and-Boo, but with a little google hacking I found this:
site:noonsite.com ship stamp - Google Search

Not sure about Libya, but Morocco and Portugal really weren't too bothered last time I was there. Much more important than any bit of plastic is behaving with good manners. Acting like a Victorian child seems to work very well Smile lots, only speak when spoken too and then only answer the question asked, no more info than necessary. Then smile some more say say thank you. And show great interest when the local cricket team/charity concert is mentioned.

A stamp might be a nice thing to have, but I think pretty much everywhere a smile will work better.

[Patient]

Originally Posted by conachair

Not sure about Libya, but Morocco and Portugal really weren't too bothered last time I was there. Much more important than any bit of plastic is behaving with good manners. Acting like a Victorian child seems to work very well Smile lots, only speak when spoken too and then only answer the question asked, no more info than necessary. Then smile some more say say thank you. And show great interest when the local cricket team/charity concert is mentioned.

A stamp might be a nice thing to have, but I think pretty much everywhere a smile will work better.

Ha! Thats the attitude I like to hear! The only time I didn't smile during a customs type scenario resulted in having my toothpaste squeezed out into my luggage right in front of me by a not-so-amused customs official. Was a long flight and thought the "Tough" passenger approach would get me through the gate quicker.

Never again after that. You are spot on with that philosophy, it has served me well too.

[Me-and-Boo]

Nice list.

I just thought of another place the ship's stamp is necessary, which is on seaman's papers. The master's signature is not enough, the ship's stamp needs to be on them too.

Hopefully someone in the seaman career can fill in on that (my knowledge is from about 40 or 50 years ago).

[storyinframes]

http://web.mac.com/myronpm/Topics/html/gbla.htm
This page has some exotic pictures of rubber stamps.