New stamps feature merchant marine

New stamps feature merchant marine       Commercial shipping will be the focus of a set of new U.S. postage stamps that will go on sale July 28.
      The ships will be launched with a first day of issuance ceremony, 11:30 a.m., July 28 at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy's Ackerman Auditorium, 300 Steamboat Rd., King Points, N.Y.
      The first class “forever” stamps, which can continue to be used even as postal rates increase, will feature images of four ships:
      ' The clipper ship Sovereign of the Seas, launched in 1852.
      ' A steamship similar to those built by the New York entrepreneur Edward K. Collins in the 1840s.
      ' A World War II-era Liberty Ship.
      ' The R.J. Pfeiffer, a containership launched by Matson Navigation Co. in 1992.