Cruel Fate - Lima Cobs Melted Down

[divewrecks]

British crown from my collection....Stan


During the War of the Austrian Succession, Great Britain was the ally of Maria Theresa of Austria, and fought its two greatest maritime rivals, France and Spain. In July 1745, Captains James Talbot and John Morecock, commanding two privateers in the North Atlantic, the Prince Frederick and the Duke, captured two French treasure ships returning from Callao, the port of Lima. Their haul was £800,000 in silver coins and ingots, plus gold and other goods. When they landed at Bristol in October it took 45 wagons to transport the coin and bullion (which weighed over 78 tons) to the Tower Mint. There the silver was used in the production of the so-called 'Lima' coinage of 1746. It was requested that the word 'Lima' be used on the coins to celebrate the exploit. Here LIMA can be seen spelled out under the portrait of King George II (reigned 1727-60)

A letter from a lieutenant on the Prince Frederick was published in Gentleman's Magazine in August 1745:

'The 12th July (which is now the toast here) we took two rich ships... As we shot their masts away, we were obliged to tow them for three weeks, till we got here, in which we had the good fortune never to be disturned by Jack Spaniard or Frenchman. These ships went out four years ago to Peru and Chili and had on board (as by their bills of lading now come to hand) one million sterling in gold and silver coin, besides 800 tons of cocoa, and we are every day discovering more treasure that has been concealed... We have a marquis of France, a governor of Peru, friars in abundance, one of whom threw a gold chalice into the sea of great value that it should not come into our hands.'

[TNBob]

Awesome Coin! Thanks for showing. Bob

[Michigan Badger]

Well this just goes to prove that one man's cob is another man's coin.

[divewrecks]

This was not the first time the Brits taunted the Spaniards via coinage. Here is the story of the Vigo Bay coins. There were both gold and silver issues minted. This is probably the rarest, a 1703 five guinea, gold (not mine unfortunately).

Stan


In 1702, the English and the Dutch teamed against the Spanish and the French. The imperialist quests of French King Louis IV, and Spanish expansion in the Western Hemisphere, were pertinent factors. In a major naval victory for the British and the Dutch, the Spanish port city of Vigo was invaded and a substantial number of Spanish ships carrying gold and silver were captured in Vigo Bay.

Queen Anne issued a directive that the seized gold and silver be used for English coins. The Director of the London Mint was one of the great scientists of all time, Sir Isaac Newton, who personally attended to the delivery of the gold and silver that was seized from the Spanish. A large quantity of silver and less than eight pounds of gold were delivered. The battle at Vigo bay, however, was a major blow to both the Spanish and the French. The Royal Navy (of England and later the UK) was to be the leading force on the high seas for centuries, until World War II when the United States became the number one naval power in the world.

[cuzcosquirrel]

The other source of the gold and silver for these coins was the capture by George Anson of the Manila bound galleon Nuestra Senora de Covadonga at the opening of the Straight of San Bernardino.

There was talk of using the word "Acapulco" instead of "Lima" but they probably chose the shorter word because of the space available, and because the gold and silver had not been minted in Acapulco, but in Lima and Potosi.

[divewrecks]

Yeah, that was a big haul, said to include "1,313,843 pieces of eight". Wow!

Stan