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Stamps commemorate floating dock

A set of stamps has been released to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Bermuda Floating Dock.

It took about 1,400 workers nearly three years to complete the structure at a shipyard in North Woolwich, England.

On June 24, 1869, HM Floating Dock Bermuda began its 3,985-mile journey to the island, eventually arriving on July 27.

It served the Royal Navy from 1870 until about 1904, by which time it had become too small for a new generation of war ships and was sold to a

German company.

However, the floating dock had been partly dismantled when it broke loose in a squall and ended up at Spanish Point.

All that remains more than 100 years later are rusting iron plates and frames, although the structure was once the largest floating dock in the world with a lifting capacity of about 10,000 tons.

The stamps were released by the Bermuda Post Office last week and can be bought from the Philatelic Bureau at Perot Post Office.