~ 1798 Spanish 8 Reals Silver Coin From Wreck Of HMS Athenienne Sunk 1806 COA ~
It comes with a certificate of authenticity.
~ HMS Athenienne ~
HMS Athenienne was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was the former Maltese ship San Giovanni, which the French captured on the stocks in 1798 and launched and commissioned as Athénien. The Royal Navy captured her at or prior to the surrender of Valletta, on 4 September 1800, and took her into service as Athenienne. She was wrecked near Sicily, with great loss of life, in 1806. desk-based assessment was undertaken which involved assessing the significance of the site.
On 16 October 1806, Athenienne sailed from Gibraltar for Malta under the command of Captain Robert Raynsford, with a crew of 470. In the evening of 20 October, she ran aground on a submerged reef, the Esquirques (37°47′N 10°46′E), in the Strait of Sicily.
The crew cut away ship’s masts to prevent her rolling on her side, but nevertheless she flooded to the lower deck ports within half an hour, then rolled over. Captain Raynsford had had an improvised raft constructed. Unfortunately, two of the ship’s boats were swamped when launching and two others deserted the wreck; after much trouble the ship’s launch was freed and got into the water. Over 100 survivors were crammed into her and she was rescued the following day by a Danish ship, who brought them safely to land. In all, 347 people died, including Captain Raynsford, while 141 men and 2 women were rescued.
~ Condition ~
Please refer to the images for the condition.
~ Dimensions ~
The coin is 1.8cm (0.7 inches) wide.
