In 1745 and 1746, many British silver coin issues were minted with the word “LIMA” just below King George’s portrait. This is a curious feature seeing as Peru was a colony owned by Spain at this time and King Philip V of Spain and King George II of England were at war.
So why would King George want to include the name of a Spanish owned colony on a British coin? Well, there is a fascinating story behind this, so let’s dive in!
The inclusion of the word “Lima” represents that the silver used to make these coins commemorates a significant British victory over Spain that included the capture of a famous Spanish galleon and successful raids on the Spanish settlements in the New World. Most of the silver used by the Royal Mint in these two years was captured in a single action by a ship commanded by a man who was later to be considered one of Britain’s greatest naval heroes.
Background History:
From 1565 to 1815, Spanish galleons sailed across the Pacific Ocean each year, from Acapulco, Mexico to Manila in the Philippines.
On their westward leg, these ships carried vast cargoes of silver coins (mostly pieces of eight), mined in Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru along with other goods from the New World. This allowed Spanish merchants to buy a wide range of merchandise in Manila including silk, spices, furniture, Chinese porcelain, ivory, and other exotic goods.
On the return voyage, traders either sold these goods in the Americas or exported them across the Atlantic to Spain and to other European markets, making the Manila galleon trade route one of the most significant in global history.
Commodore George Anson’s Secret Mission
Between 1739 and 1748, Great Britain and Spain were embroiled in a conflict known as the War of Jenkin’s Ear. This war was named after a Royal Navy officer, Captain Robert Jenkins who had been badly beaten and had his ear cut off by the Spanish in the West Indies. This event, along with mounting tensions over trade disputes and Spain’s uncontrolled expansion into the New World ultimately led to Britain declaring war in 1739.
As war plans were being drafted, the British Admiralty devised a plan to attack Spain where it would hurt the most, their wallet. The British knew if they could destroy or capture Spain’s resources and territories, this would reduce the flow of silver and gold used to finance their war effort.
In 1740, Commodore George Anson was given the assignment to raid Spanish possessions in the Pacific, disrupt trade, and if possible, join up with other British forces to capture Spanish possessions in South America.
Having set sail from England on September 18th, Anson headed South with his squadron of eight warships, including HMS’ Gloucester, Wager, Tryal, Pearl, Severn along with Anson’s flagship Centurion, a thousand-ton 4th rate Man-O-War, plus two merchant vessels stocked with provisions and marines, the Anna and the Industry.
The armament and crew of Anson’s squadron was comprised of the following warships:
· The Centurion was 1,005 tons and had 60 guns and a crew of 400 men. This ship was Anson’s flagship.
· The Gloucester was 853 tons and had 50 guns and a crew of 300 men.
· The Severn was 853 tons and had 50 guns and a crew of 300 men.
· The Pearl was 600 tons and had 40 guns and a crew of 250 men.
· The Wager was 599 tons and had 24 guns and a crew of 120 men.
· The Tryal was 200 tons and had 8 guns and a crew of 70 men.
Although the squadron managed to evade a flotilla of Spanish warships that had been sent to intercept them, the crews of the British ships were decimated by dysentery, malaria, typhus and scurvy. In addition, the squadron was scattered and many of the ships lost contact with each other as they attempted to sail around South America’s Cape Horn, which is one of the most treacherous stretches of ocean in the world.
The Pearl and the Severn failed to pass around the Horn and were forced to return home and HMS Wager was wrecked off the coast of Chile, where the crew subsequently mutinied. This left Anson with only 5 ships.
By the time Anson reached the Juan Fernández Islands in June 1741, only three of his six ships remained (HMS Centurion, the fourth-rate HMS Gloucester, and the sloop HMS Tryal), while the strength of his crews had fallen from 961 to 335. Anson pressed on, capturing several Spanish merchant ships, including the Nuestra Señora del Monte Carmelo and the Nuestra Señora del Arranzazú.
In the absence of any effective Spanish forces on the coast, he was able to harass the enemy and sack the small port city of Paita in Peru in November 1741.
Disease continued to take a heavy toll on Anson’s crew, and there were barely enough officers and men available to operate the ships. This meant the Spanish prize ships that were captured had to be destroyed, thus forfeiting any prize money that might have been gained from their sale, and the crews had to transfer back to the Centurion and the Gloucester. Anson continued to raid Spanish settlements, and intercept Spanish merchants, before sailing to Macau.
Despite his successful raids and capturing several Spanish merchant vessels, Anson had failed to achieve as much as he had hoped when he had set out initially. He had lost most of his ships, either wrecked, out of contact, or returned home, and most of his men had died. This entire mission was beginning to look like a disaster for Anson, who desperately needed a victory worthy of the immense loss of men and ships.
As soon as Anson left Macau, he informed his crew that he intended to make one last attempt to capture a Spanish Galleon. Although finding a galleon in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean was like finding a needle in a haystack, Anson hoped to achieve one last major success before returning home.
The Capture of the Nuestra Señora de Covadonga
The Nuestra Señora de Covadonga was one of the Manila galleons that sailed this Pacific route from 1731. Weighing in at 1,000 tons with 50 cannons, the Covadonga was a formidable warship capable of transporting cargo but also defending itself against all but the most powerful naval vessels. For 12 years, it passed back and forth between Acapulco and Manila with minimal incidents, but its 1743 voyage was to be a disaster.
The Covadonga sailed from Acapulco on April 15th, 1743, weighed down by silver worth roughly $80 million today, and 530 people, half of them crew and the remainder passengers. To make room for this volume of people and silver, the newly-appointed Commander, Geronimo Montero, had ordered the removal of all but 13 of the 50 cannons, leaving the ship vulnerable and far below its full strength.
While the Covadonga made its way across the Pacific, on June 30th, off the coast of Cape Espiritu Santo in the Philippines, its crew spied a sail in the distance. The approaching ship was none other than the HMS Centurion.
Despite the crew of the Centurion having been ravaged by disease after more than three years of campaigning in the Pacific, the Spanish Galleon was no match for the superior gunnery and handling of the British warship, and after a battle lasting 90 minutes, during which the Spanish ship was shot through with cannonballs and its decks sprayed with grapeshot, the galleon struck its colors and surrendered to the Centurion. On the Centurion only three men died and 17 had been wounded. On the Covadonga, the grim figures were 67 dead and 84 wounded.
When Anson’s men boarded the captured ship, they discovered a huge hoard of silver, including 1,313,843 pieces of eight and a further 35,000 ounces of silver bullion, in addition to the rest of the ship’s cargo and the prize ship itself.
The charts captured with the ship added many islands (and phantom islands) to the British knowledge of the Pacific, including the so-called Anson Archipelago.
Anson sailed with the captured Covadonga to Canton, China and after several months making repairs, acquiring supplies and selling off the Spanish ship, he set sail for home in December 1743. After several stops along the way to pick up additional supplies and crewmembers, he finally arrived back in England on June 15th 1744.
Of the original crewmembers of Anson’s squadron, including the survivors of the ships that got separated, only 500 survived out of 1,854 officers, sailors and marines. Of Anson’s own remaining forces from the Centurion, Gloucester, Tyral and the Anna, only 188 original crew members out of around 1,000 were alive by the time they returned home.
Converting Spanish Treasure into British Coinage
Once the Centurion docked in port and the British Admiralty saw the massive amount of silver, it was decided that the treasure taken from the Covadonga would be sent to the Royal Mint for safe keeping. Seeing as the Covadonga left the port of Acapulco in 1743, the Pieces of Eight she carried were most likely either Pillar Dollars minted in Mexico or cobs minted in Potosi Bolivia in late 1742 and early 1743.
As the silver was being offloaded, it took scores of horse drawn wagons to transport it. Huge crowds of Londoners gathered in awe at the spectacle of the captured loot making its way through the streets to the Royal mint.
Once the silver from the Covadonga was unloaded at the mint, it was decided that it should be melted down and converted into British crowns, Half crowns, and 6 pence pieces. In addition, in order to commemorate the tremendous victory, the word “Lima” was to be added under the bust of King George. Not only did this captured treasure serve to weaken Spain financially, it also served to memorialize Britain’s victory over Spain, which was a great morale boost for King George’s subjects and an embarrassment to King Philip of Spain.
Anson’s achievements and the capture of the Covadonga made him a national hero and lead to his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Design Elements of 1745 and 1746 British Silver Coins
During the 17th and 18th centuries, most of Central and South America except Brazil were considered by the Spanish as “El Peru”. The Spanish colonial silver mines at Lima and Potosi supplied most of the silver used in the Spanish economy as well as commerce throughout Europe. The word “Lima” engraved under the bust of King George on the obverse is a reference to the Spanish silver being shipped from Lima back to Spain.
Here are some of the unique details regarding the design features of 1745 and 1746 British silver coins minted from the captured silver of the Covadonga:
The obverse of the coin displays a portrait of King George II facing left and the legend around the rim in Latin reads “GEORGIVS II DEI.GRATIA”, which means “George the Second by The Grace of God”. Directly underneath the bust of King George is the word “Lima”, which indicates that the silver used for this coin was Spanish silver captured by Commodore Anson from the Covadonga.
The reverse shows the date 1746 separated by a crown, the shields of Great Britain’s domains are below. The abbreviated Latin legend continues from the obverse around the rim, which reads: “M.B.F ET H. REX.FD.B.ET.LD.SRI.A.T.ET.E”. In Latin, this reads “Magnae Britannieae, Franciae ET Hiberniae REX Fidei Defensor Brunsviciensis ET Luneburgensis Dux, Sacri Romani Imperii Archi-Thesaurarius ET Elector” The translation in English is: “King of Great Britain, France (Normandy) and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, Arch Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire”
In the center of the reverse are four crowned shields arranged in a cruciform pattern. Each shield represents different parts of the British realm:
- England is represented by three lions passant guardant.
- Scotland is represented by a single lion rampant.
- Ireland is represented by a harp.
- France is represented by three fleurs-de-lis, reflecting the historical claim of the English monarchy to the French throne.
In the center of the cruciform arrangement is the Garter Star, symbolizing the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry in Britain that was founded by King Edward III in 1348.
For more information on the capture of the Covadonga and Anson’s voyages, visit:
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/papers-of-nuestra-senora-de-covadonga/
https://www.prizepapers.de/case-studies/case-study-spanish-ships/la-nuestra-senora-de-cabodonga
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2023/august/ansons-voyage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson%27s_voyage_around_the_world
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