PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V10 2007 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
The E-Sylum: Volume 10, Number 11, March 18, 2007, Article 26 NAVAL COIN CUSTOM IN THE NEWS: STEPPING THE SHIP'S MAST The Lookout of Victoria, British Columbia (a newspaper for the Canadian military Pacific fleet), reports that "After two months alongside, HMCS Oriole is back to sailing condition, with a refinished mast, new rigging and brighter lights. "During installation, Chief Boatswain PO1 Jim Levesque placed a set of 2007 coins on the mast step, which were specially ordered from the Royal Canadian Mint. They joined the rusted and warped coins placed by previous crews as part of a naval tradition that dates back to the Romans. Sailors place coins under the mast of a ship every time it is repaired as ferry payment to the underworld should they become shipwrecked." To read the complete article, see: Full Story And according to a press release issued March 6th, "Invoking a millennia of maritime and shipbuilding tradition, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), currently in drydock at Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard, stepped its new mast today in a solemn ceremony on the flight deck. "The ceremony involved a series of remarks by distinguished guests and culminated in the welding of a commemorative metal plaque to the base of the ship?s new mast. USS Carl Vinson Commanding Officer Ted Carter lead the ceremony "As Capt. Carter explained, the ceremonial placing of coins at the base of a ship?s mast is a practice that goes back to at least the ancient Romans. It was thought to bring good luck to a ship and her crew, and the Navy adopted the ceremony as part of its traditional shipbuilding practice. "Pictured is an 1883 penny, which was placed at the base of the mast of USS Carl Vinson during the ship's commissioning. On March 6, 2007, this ceremonial penny was placed back under Carl Vinson's new mast. The penny will now become a permanent fixture for the carrier's next 25 years of service to the fleet. To read the complete Press Release, see: Press Release [This is a timely topic - I located a 2007 academic paper by Deborah N. Carlson (of the Nautical Archaeology Program, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University), titled "Mast-Step Coins Among the Romans". The paper confirms that the practice can be traced to the Romans but also indicates that the tradition goes back even farther. The paper grew out of a graduate seminar in Greek and Roman Numismatics taught by Professor John Kroll at the University of Texas at Austin. "The archaeological evidence of more than a dozen ancient shipwrecks indicates that the tradition of placing a coin inside the mast-step of a ship?s hold probably originated with the Romans. The mast-step coin phenomenon, which persisted through the Middle Ages and continues in various forms today, has often been characterized according to the modern concept of ?luck?. "The custom was, however, not one of an exclusively maritime nature; rather, it was ultimately derived from a long-standing religious tradition that can be traced back to the consecration of the earliest Greek temples." To read the complete paper, see: Full Story [I know there are plenty of shipwreck coin collectors. Anyone own a ship's mast coin? -Editor] Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V10 2007 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE