According to Bermuda historian (Dr) Jack Arnell, the 'Royal Navy provided better facilities and teachers than ever could have been provided by the Colonial Government', with dockyard tradesmen subsequently setting up their own businesses. Closure (in 1950) resulted in the 'chronic shortage of skilled workmen in Bermuda today' and he regretted the end of 'probably the largest operation ever established in Bermuda, which was little known or appreciated except by the few who had the opportunity to work and learn in the Dockyard'. – Dr Ann Coats, 'Bermuda Naval Base: Management, Artisans and Enslaved Workers in the 1790s: the 1950s Bermudian Apprentices' Heritage', The Mariner's Mirror, May 2009.

In the 1840s, individual postage stamps were invented in Britain and their use changed the way people paid to communicate by mail, while at the same time creating a new category of heritage and collectibles. The stick-on paper stamps replaced the old ink stamp, from which they take their name. Postmaster William Bennet Perot at the building on Queen Street, that yet bears his name, printed Bermuda's first stamp in 1848. Apparently only 11 examples of the Perot stamp are known to exist, including one in the Royal Collection: rare Bermuda and international postal heritage indeed.

In the early years of "artificially affixed postal tax stamps", the image on the stamp was of the reigning monarch or country leader, so that the world's first stamp, the "Penny Black" showed a profile of Queen Victoria, "Empress of India", etc., etc. When the American postal system removed an image of the President for one of a horse or buffalo, the public was incensed and the concept was stamped out. With the introduction of the postage stamp, mail increased fivefold in the first decade, so that by 1850 in Britain, 350 million letters were being posted and presumably delivered, even if the address was a bit off. The introduction of the Internet posed a great threat to the postal system, which is now being realised with so many formerly stamped transactions taking place online. Of course, if you do not have the correct address online, your mail will be returned or vanish into cyberspace.

Slowly however postage stamps began to show scenes and objects, other than royal or political crania, and ultimately those potential heritage items reflected heritage subjects in commemorative issues. Such was a case a few weeks ago, with the production of four Bermuda stamps to honour the apprentices and the apprentice system of the Bermuda Dockyard, the latter a method of education that ceased in 1950, with the downsizing of that naval base.

As the Stamp Design Advisory Committee, chaired by the Dame Jennifer Smith, a former Premier of Bermuda, noted in its leaflet to accompany the stamp issue Dockyard Apprentices Bermuda: Pioneers of Progress, "Bermuda Dockyard apprentices and craftsmen were ultimately part of the worldwide system of British dockyards which serviced, equipped and supplied Royal Navy ships. During their apprenticeships they worked with craftsmen who had trained in British dockyards and who had often also worked in overseas dockyards in the Mediterranean, Asia and Canada. Those still serving their apprenticeships on the close of the Bermuda Dockyard went on to Plymouth (Portsmouth) to complete their training and some stayed on." Some are of the view that their training was also an apprenticeship for life, combining discipline with continuous learning.

Four stamps were issued and on September 23, 2010 ceremonies took place in Hamilton and at the Commissioner's House at the National Museum of Bermuda, with the guests of honour being a number of the surviving Bermudian apprentices who sailed for Liverpool, England, on September 9,1950 with "Mentor" George Hyde, whose son Brian has kept in touch with a number of the men) to complete their period as trainees in various professions, such as electrical, plumbing and shipwright trades.

The West End Development Corporation, ultimately responsible for the built-heritage of the Dockyard, also honoured the last group of apprentices over the last few years.

There were 52 men in the class, of which 48, according to the manifest, sailed for Britain on the MV Georgic that September sixty years ago.

The 35 cent stamp features HMS Urgent in the Floating Dock circa 1880 and a plumb bob used in leveling the dock and positioning the docked ship on the blocks. The 70-cent stamp features the Dockyard Gate, with a detail of the Dockyard clock. The clock, situated in the Great Eastern Storehouse with its two towers, was omnipresent in the lives of Dockyard workmen and apprentices. The 85 cent stamp features George Dixon, senior shipfitter, sitting behind a power saw and a wooden pattern for a bronze rudder. The $1.10 stamp features a group outside the Chief Constructor's office circa 1948 of which two were Bermudians: Leslie Spencer, labourer, and Michael Goodchild, machinist.

Apprenticeships in various trades were open to young men passing the Dockyard examination. An Indenture was then signed, committing the young man to a period of service. Such a paper survives for Dennis Tudor Pitman, who signed on for an apprenticeship in the Bermuda Dockyard at the age of 14 years and two months in 1928, completing it five years later. It may be fair to say in times when some civilians took another view that the Dockyard did not discriminate in its acceptance of youngsters for apprenticeships, except that they took no women, and in that they were in sync generally with the public.

According to Dr Ann Coats: "The privilege of being awarded an apprentice was intended by (dockyard) management to reward the most skilled and hardest working artificers, as it increased their pay and assisted them in their work and 'bred' the next generation of diligent workers."

Suffice to say, many, including the last apprentices, regret the reduction of the Dockyard in 1950 and the end of the apprenticeship programme. Its demise (and the abolition of technical schools) contributed greatly to a lack of new generations of 'diligent workers', for which the country and public (and some of its young men) are now paying a very high price.

Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, JP, PHD, FSA is Executive Director of the National Museum of Bermuda, incorporating the Bermuda Maritime Museum. Comments may be made to director@bmm.bm or 704-5480