Six stamps commemorating Bermuda’s signature training vessel, the Spirit of Bermuda, will be released today.

This is the second of four stamp issues by the Bermuda Post Office this year in its efforts to portray all areas of Bermuda’s heritage, culture and history.

The stamps, which depict six different views of the sloop, from the laying of the keel, sea trials to its arrival in Bermuda will be available at post offices today.

The Spirit of Bermuda was built in 26 months by Rockport Marine in Rockport, Maine, USA, but the original inspiration for the sloop comes from an 1834 oil painting by John Lynn.

The ten cent stamp is a view of the hull construction, which was made upside-down over a wooden mould and the 35 and 70 cent stamps depict the sea trials of the sloop.

After the sloop was launched on Saturday, August 13 last year, it went through extensive sea trials in Maine before 32 crew sailed it to Bermuda.

On September 30, last year the Spirit of Bermuda approached Bermuda from the Southwest side, which is depicted on the 85 cent stamp and then proceeded to Hamilton Harbour, which is on the $1.10 stamp.

The $1.25 stamp depicts the sloop powering upwind in Bermuda’s Great Sound.

On June 21 this year the Bermuda Philatelic Bureau will issue the next six stamps, which will commemorate the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown.