Yellow Fleet

The Yellow Fleet was the name given to a group of fourteen ships trapped in the Suez Canal (in the Great Bitter Lake section) from 1967 to 1975 as a result of the Six-Day War. The name derived from their yellow appearance as they were increasingly covered in a desert sand swept onboard. The fourteen ships were:

MS Nordwind (West Germany)
MS Münsterland (West Germany)
MS Killara (Sweden)
MS Nippon (Sweden)
MS Essayons, ex Sindh (France)
MS Agapenor (UK)
MS Melampus (UK)
MS Scottish Star (UK)
MS Port Invercargill (UK)
SS African Glen (USA), sunk in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War
MS Djakarta (Poland)
MS Boleslaw Bierut (Poland)
MS Vassil Levsky (Bulgaria)
MS Lednice (Czechoslovakia)

A fifteenth ship, the Observer (USA) was stranded in Lake Timsah.

Forced to anchor

In June 1967 the fourteen ships were sailing northwards through the Suez Canal as fighting broke out between Israel and Egypt in what was to become known as the Six-Day War. Both ends of the canal were closed, and after three days it became apparent that the canal would remain unnavigable for some time as a result of the scuttling of ships to block its passage. The fourteen ships were forced to anchor in the widest part of the Suez Canal, the Great Bitter Lake.

Trapped for eight years

In October 1967 the officers and crews of all fourteen ships met on the Melampus to found the "Great Bitter Lake Association" which would provide mutual support. In the time to come, the crew members regularly met on board their ships, organised social events, founded a yachting club and held the "Bitter Lake Olympic Games" to complement the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In time, a postal system evolved, the hand-crafted stamp of which became collectors' items around the world.

In time it was possible to reduce the number of crew members on board the ships, and in 1969 the ships were gathered into several groups to further reduce the number of crew necessary for their upkeep. In terms of the postal system, this resulted in the creation of group stamps such as:

"MS Müwinikies", which derived from the ship names "Mü" (Münsterland), "wi" (Nordwind) "ni" (Nippon), "ki" (Killara) and "es" (Essayons)
"MS Ledmelaga" from "Led" (Lednice), "mel" (Melampus) and "aga" (Agapenor)
"MS Djabiporst" from "Dja" (Djakarta), "bi" (Boleslaw Beirut), "por" (Port Invercargill) and "st" (Scottish Star)

In 1972 the last crew members of the German ships were finally sent home, with the maintenance of the ships left to a Norwegian company. In spring 1975 the Suez Canal was once again opened for international transport, and on May 24, 1975, the German ships Münsterland and Nordwind reached Hamburg port, cheered by more than 30,000 spectators. They were reportedly the only ships to have left the canal under their own power. For the Münsterland this was the end of a voyage to Australia which had lasted eight years, three months and five days.

References

External links

Ian Russel. "Melampus in Suez". The Blue Funnel Line 1866 - 1986. Retrieved 2010-09-06.