Which was the ill-fated sister ship of the Peter Pomegranate? The Saturday quiz

The questions

1 Which author from Stamps, Arkansas, appeared on a US stamp in 2015?
2 Mec Vannin campaigns for which island’s independence?
3 Which was the ill-fated sister ship of the Peter Pomegranate?
4 Alfredo Stroessner dominated which nation for nearly 35 years?
5 Which two sports activities characteristic in Nordic mixed?
6 What ends with “grateful emotions after the storm”?
7 What's the pH worth of pure water?
8 Which character was born in York with the surname Kreutznaer?
What hyperlinks:
9 Beas; Chenab; Jhelum; Ravi; Sutlej?
10 Piaffe; passage; pirouette; half-pass?
11 Weak; sturdy; gravitational; electromagnetic?
12 Songkran; Tet Nguyen Dan; Nowruz; Rosh Hashanah?
13 New Zealand’s capital; Victoria’s capital; Pennsylvania’s second metropolis?
14 Elvis Presley; Tony Bennett; Jimi Hendrix; Ice-T; Shaggy; James Blunt?
15 Betty Draper; Cira Manzon; Layla El-Faouly/Scarlet Scarab; Dot Cotton?

Elvis Presley in 1956. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos

The solutions

1 Maya Angelou.
2 Isle of Man.
3 Mary Rose.
4 Paraguay.
5 Cross-country snowboarding and ski leaping.
6 Beethoven’s Symphony No 6 (Pastoral).
7 7.
8 Robinson Crusoe.
9 5 rivers that give Punjab its title (Indus tributaries).
10 Actions in dressage.
11 4 basic forces.
12 New-year celebrations: Thai; Vietnamese; Iranian; Jewish.
13 Cities named after British prime ministers: Wellington; Melbourne; Pitt the Elder.
14 Musicians who served within the army.
15 Performed by performers with months for first names: January Jones (Mad Males); April Hernandez (Dexter); Could Calamawy (Moon Knight); June Brown (EastEnders).