Finland & Aland - North by the sea

On 24^th March 2010 Nordic countries Aland, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands issued minisheets of stamps. The theme in all these was the same. North by the sea – and life on the Coast. Displayed here are first day covers with mini sheets of Finland and the nearby Islands of Aland. The Finnish minisheet shows the Maritime Centre at Vellamo, The Finnish Boat Centre, and the Tarmo Museum Ship in the Kantasatama Harbour in Kotka (a town near the Easter border of Finland). The sailor shown on the cover is a pilot from Suursaari, an island near Kotka, which now belongs to Russia. Before World War II it belonged to Finland.
The Tarmo Museum Ship is an icebreaker that served Finland for many decades. She was built in 1907. She was armed and served during WW II. She is believed to be the world’s oldest surviving icebreaker. She was renamed Apu in 1963, because a new Tarmo the Second was built. Tarmo has the privilege of featuring on a Finish stamp earlier too. Once again these gems have been sent to me by Ella.