Description: This monochromatic French postage stamp features a detailed intaglio engraving of the deep-sea submersible Archimède navigating the ocean floor. The vessel is depicted in profile, highlighting its massive, elongated float hull which houses the buoyancy tanks, and the smaller spherical steel gondola underneath where the crew resided. Prominent text on the left commemorates the "RECORD DE PLONGEE" (Diving Record) of "9.200m," creating a permanent philatelic record of the achievement. The design is framed by the title "BATHYSCAPHE ARCHIMEDE" across the top, with the denomination "0,30" and the stylized "RF" (République Française) monogram anchoring the right side.
Circa: 1963
Condition: Used
Notes:
The 9,200-meter depth cited on the stamp refers to a historic dive in the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench off Japan in July 1962.
Unlike modern submarines that use compressed air, the Archimède used 42,000 gallons of hexane (a type of gasoline) for buoyancy because it is lighter than water and incompressible, allowing the hull to survive immense crushing pressures.
This vessel was the ultimate successor to the earlier bathyscaphe FNRS-3 and was designed by Pierre Willm and Georges Houot, two pioneers of French underwater exploration.