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25 years of the Faroese Postal Service
The last 25 years only represent part of the history of the Post Office on the Faroe Islands – it is actually much older. The first branch post office was opened in Tórshavn as long ago as 1870. At that time the Post Office was Danish and the Postmaster-General's Office appointed the then Member of Parliament and Sheriff H. C. Müller to look after the interests of the Post Office on the Faroe Islands.
Being a sub-postmaster was far from easy during the first year. There were all sorts of acts, statutory instruments and executive orders to comply with, the oldest of which dated back to 1694. A new Post Office Act came into force on 1st April 1871, repealing in the process 28 acts, statutory instruments, charges and statutes from 1694 to 1868.
The postage on 18th February 1970 was 8 skilling for letters weighing up to 15 g and 16 skilling for 15-250 g. As early as 1st April 1871, however, the Faroe Islands were included in the domestic, i.e. the Danish, tariff zone, where the postage was 4 skilling for letters weighing 0-250 g.
Before regular boat services were established between the islands, a special transport system was required to enable people from the different islands to exchange messages. This system was called "Skjúts".
It involved a "Skjútsskaffari", or agent, being appointed in every village with the duty of organising a crew to transport people, letters or parcels from one village to another.
The Skjúts system was actually introduced in around the mid-1860s, with the first Skjúts Act coming into force in 1865.
Skjúts charges were laid down by the Lagting, the Faroese Representative Council, for 5 years at a time. There were three types of Skjúts: Official, Clerical and Private. The charges for Skjúts varied, with Official being the cheapest and Private the most expensive. There was no charge for Skjúts prior to 1865.
All healthy males of between 15 and 50 years of age were liable for Skjúts, i.e. they could not refuse without incurring a fine.
It was never an easy task to transport mail from one island to another across perilous waters where there were often powerful currents.
Peter S. Johannesen, who was one of the first post carriers, tells of a letter delivery from the days of Skjúts. The letter, which had to go from Tórshavn to Hvalba on Suðuroy, was marked "K.T.", i.e. Kongelig Tjeneste (On His Majesty's Service), and bore the endorsement "Uopholdelig Befordring" (For Immediate Delivery), i.e. it had to be dispatched as soon as the weather permitted.
The letter was first given to the Skjúts agent in Tórshavn, who immediately got hold of a man liable for Skjúts. The man walked from Tórshavn to Kirkjubøur, where he handed the letter over to the Skjúts agent in the village. The agent got a boat with eight men to carry the letter to Sandoy – to where the village of Skopun lies today. One of the men in the boat then had to walk to the village of Sandur with the letter and hand it over to the village's Skjúts agent, after which he returned to the boat, which was still waiting for him. The Skjúts agent in Sandur then got a man to walk to Dalur with the letter, after which it was carried by boat from Dalur to Hvalba on Suðuroy. Here the letter was handed over to the priest.
Owing to strong currents and bad weather the Skjúts crew were unable to row back to Dalur that evening. The weather worsened during the night and the men had to stay on the island for two weeks.
The Skjúts system existed right up until around World War I, but was not used as much by then, as the Post Office's rates were relatively low and so represented a reasonable alternative.
The block shows three motifs from the history of the Post Office: a boat providing Skjúts, a postman and the first post office in Tórshavn.It was the then sub-postmaster, C. C. Danielsen, who started to build a new post office in the centre of Tórshavn in 1905. The post office was finished a year later, with the new building being occupied on 1st December. It was a historic event, as this was the first time that a building had been erected specifically as a post office.
The postman on the block is Simon Pauli Poulsen, who was known as Mørkabóndin. He carried mail from the village of Fuglafjørður.
Being a postman could be a dangerous and risky job, and the history of the Post Office on the Faroe Island also includes reports of fatal accidents. The first struck the 52-year-old Jacob Eliassen, known as Jakki i Vági. In 1887 Jakki was on his way over the mountain between Klaksvík and the village of Árnafjørður. It was winter and the weather was bad, but the mail had to go out all the same. On this particular winter day Jakki failed to reach his destination. His body was later found lying on a ledge below the mountain crest from which he had plunged.
The Post Office on the Faroe Islands remained in Danish hands until 1976. After the Lagting elections of November 1974 the government decided that the Faroese Post Office should be taken over by the Faroese Home Rule Government. The Danish and Faroese governments entered into negotiations on this matter in 1975. The outcome of the negotiations was that the Faroese Home Rule Government took over the Post Office on the Faroe Islands with effect from 1st April 1976. This new institution was called Postverk Føroya (the Faroese Postal Service). A ram's horn was chosen as its logo.