Characteristics of the stamp

•  Date of issuance: 06/08/2018
• Printing Procedure: Offset
• Paper: Gummed
• Size of the stamp: 40.9 x 28.8 mm
• Surface effects: 25
• Postal value of the stamp: 0.55 €
• Print run: 180.000

150 years ago, the first admiral of the United States who played a crucial role in the Civil War, landed in Ciudadela, birthplace of his father, where he was received with multitudes of praise and was named “adopted son” of the city by the City Council as proof of their “distinguished appreciation” of “such a brave sailor”.
He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1801 under the name James, Son of Jorge Farragut and Elizabeth Shine. His father was the captain of a merchant vessel from Menorca and later, in 1766, he immigrated to the United States, where he joined the revolutionary cause and in addition, changed his name to George Farragut.

After the death of his mother, James Farragut agreed to live as the adopted son of David Porter, a naval official and friend of his father. From that moment forward, he grew up in a naval family as the adopted brother of the future admiral of the Civil War, David Dixon Porter, and the commodore William D. Porter. In 1812, he adopted the name of David in honor of his adopted father, with whom he went to the navy towards the end of 1810.
In spite of his southern origins, Farragut considered any secessionist act treasonous and joined sides with the northern states of the Union, presided over by Abraham Lincoln, against the southern states of the Confederacy, who proclaimed independence.

On August 5, 1864 he participated in the memorable battle of Mobile Bay (Alabama), the last open port of the Confederacy in the Gulf of Mexico. It was there that they say he pronounced the most famous phrase of the war: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” He was so popular that Jules Verne was inspired by him when he gave life to “commodore Farragut” in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

The stamp contains an image of a portrait of the admiral, and at the bottom, a painting held in the Military Museum of Menorca entitled “Vista de la ciutat de Maho, prese de la part de Cala Rata”, dated from the seventeenth century, that shows a beautiful image of the Western Quay in Mahon.