The M.V."Discovery" is a 20,216 tons single ship operation catering for the exotic destination market. The vessel was built in 1972 in Germany as the "Island Venture" but spent the 1974 to 2001 period as the "Island Princess" of Princess Cruises. Between 2002-03 she underwent an extensive rebuild returning to service in mid 2004. She carries 650 passengers when cruising and has a crew of 305.

Note: The "Discovery" was in the course of a Trans-Pacific voyage having left Auckland a few days earlier bound for various Pacific Islands, Panama and the British Isles. The postcard was posted by passenger R.M. Carr of Cabin 3145. The postcard has been franked with a machine cancellation of Papeete of 8th April, 2005.

Note:The following report comes from the official M.V. "DISCOVERY" web site and reports on the highlight of the 2005 trans-Pacific voyage.

"2005 ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE OFF OENO ISLAND

SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN —April 11, 2005 — On Friday, April 8th, 2005, at approximately 11:55 a.m. local time, approximately 800 passengers and crew aboard MV Discovery witnessed one of the most spectacular solar eclipses while cruising on Discovery World Cruises’ 19-night South Pacific Eclipse voyage. MV Discovery was en route from Pitcairn Island to Easter Island, and in the narrow 16-mile corridor from which the complete eclipse of the Sun could be observed.

Observers and eclipse-chasers aboard MV Discovery described the occurrence to be “the most colorful eclipse they have yet witnessed.” What made this solar eclipse particularly special was the near-perfect match in apparent size between the Sun and Moon. At the time the Moon fully obstructed the view of the Sun, Venus became clearly visible in the darkened mid-day sky, adding to the brilliance of this once-every-18-year occurrence. Categorized as an annular eclipse, the Sun was fully obstructed except for a thin ‘ring of fire’ surrounding the silhouette of the moon for 33 seconds."

Note: The above envelope has the ships cachet and the senders name on the back as shown at right.

The envelope has been franked with a special Pitcairn Islands Solar Eclipse $2 stamp. it also bears a special Solar eclipse cachet in red.

Note: this envelope differs from the previous item by having the Eclipse cachet applied in black instead of red.

Note: this envelope differs from the previous one in that the ships cachet is on the front of the envelope while the Solar Eclipse cachet is on the back.

Note: The above postcard has a $1 stamp affixed instead of the $2 stamps which the envelopes require. The two different values show different aspects of the solar eclipse.

Note: The above postcard has a view of Oeno Island (In the Pitcairn Island group) which is where Eclipse Totality took place.

This postcard has the eclipse cachet in red. It also has the ships cachet applied on its reverse.

Note: the above postcard has been autographed at top left by Richard Tresch Fienberg (Shown at left) who is editor in chief of "Sky & Telescope" Magazine and a famous eclipse chaser.

Rick Fienberg was one of several hundred Eclipse chasers on board the "Discovery" to witness the eclipse.