MORE ON THE SHIP OF THE LINE VIRGINIA

Last week Alan V. Weinberg shared images of a nautical love token for the "Virginia" on a host 1874 quarter dollar. This "Ship of the Line Virginia" was the third U.S. ship to bear the name "Virginia," being a 74-gun, North Carolina Class, "Ship of the Line" intended for 820 officers and enlisted men.

Ships of the Line were multiple deck, wooden sailing vessels designed for Napoleonic naval tactics such as sailing in a line to exchange broadsides with enemy lines of sail. This Virginia was authorized by Congress in 1816, laid down at the Boston Navy Yard starting in 1821 and was ready by 1825, a time when no U.S. naval battles were on the horizon.

She was kept in stocks, never launched, commissioned, or mothballed. At 197 feet long by 53 feet in beam and 22 feet depth of hold, she was held in reserve for decades and later served as a store ship, like a warehouse in port as the age of wind and wooden ships evaporated, in favor of screw-driven steam ships sheathed in iron cladding. Subsequent ships named "Virginia, " were more famous cousins.

This Boston love token documents the final "breaking" in 1874. Further research into the history of the Boston Navy Yard may reveal more stories about machinists that might feel the need to commemorate breaking a warship that never swam. Could this be a precursor to the "DaDa" movement, to honor warships with nonviolent and peaceful records, or did some salvage yard operator, sawing fifty year old oak beams back into lumber planks have special reason to note the provenance of this load of nautical scrap?

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: ON GERMAN ANHäNGER OR "GOOD FOR" MEDALS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n42a14.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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