1690 Potosi 8 Reales PCGS VF Detail – Association Shipwreck
Item #CC-0426 | 1690 Potosi 8 Reales PCGS VF Detail – Association Shipwreck
Mint: Potosi, Bolivia
Assayer: VR
Ruler/Period: King Charles II
Grade: VF Detail
For details and population on this coin from PCGS, click on the serial number here: 48145725
Description: This superbly preserved Potosi 8 Reales was recovered from the HMS Association that sunk off the Isles of Scilly in 1707. This coin was likely prize money taken from a Spanish or French warship that surrendered to the British during their naval campaigns earlier in the year.
From July 29th to August 21st 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined British, Austrian and Dutch force under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy besieged the French port of Toulon. Great Britain dispatched a fleet to provide naval support, led by the Commander-in-Chief of the British Fleets, Sir Cloudesley Shovell. The ships sailed to the Mediterranean, attacked Toulon and managed to inflict damage on the French fleet caught in the siege. However, the overall campaign was unsuccessful, and the British fleet was ordered to return home, setting sail from Gibraltar for Portsmouth in late September.
The force under Shovell’s command comprised fifteen ships of the line (Association, Royal Anne, Torbay, St. George, Cruizer, Eagle, Lenox, Monmouth, Orford, Panther, Romney, HMS Rye, Somerset, Swiftsure, Valeur) as well as four fireships (Firebrand, HMS Griffin, Phoenix, HMS Vulcan), the sloop HMS Weazel and the yacht HMS Isabella.
On the night of October 22, 1707, the HMS Association, a 90-gun second-rate Man-O-War of the Royal Navy commanded by Captain Edmund Loades with Admiral Shovell on board, was returning from the Mediterranean after the Toulon campaign. The 21 ships in the squadron entered the mouth of the English Channel, and at 8 pm, the Association struck the Outer Gilstone Rock off the Isles of Scilly, and was wrecked with the loss of her entire crew of about 800 men. As a result of navigational errors, the ships were not where they were reckoned to be.
The Association was seen by those on board HMS St. George to go down in three or four minutes’ time. Among the dead were Captain Loades and Admiral Shovell, his stepsons Sir John Narborough and James Narborough (sons of Shovell’s wife from her marriage to Rear Admiral Sir John Narbrough) as well as Henry Trelawney, second son of the Bishop of Winchester. Captain Loades was the son of Rear Admiral Narbrough’s sister. Three other ships (HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand) were also lost, bringing the death toll to nearly 2,000 souls.
The Scilly naval disaster was one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history.
Discovery of the Wrecks
The ships of Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s fleet lay undisturbed on the seabed for over 250 years, despite several salvage attempts in pursuit of the flagship’s cargo of valuable coins, spoils of war from several battles, weapons, and personal effects. In June 1967, the Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Puttenham, manned with twelve divers under the command of Engineer-Lieutenant Roy Graham, sailed to the Isles of Scilly and dropped anchor off Gilstone Ledge, just to the southeast of Bishop Rock and close to the Western Rocks. The year before, Graham and other specialists from the Naval Air Command Sub Aqua Club had dived in this area on a first attempt to find Association. He recalled some years later: “The weather was so bad, all we achieved was the sight of a blur of seaweed, seals and white water as we were swept through the Gilstone Reef and fortunately out the other side.” On their second attempt in summer 1967, using the minesweeper and supported by the Royal Navy Auxiliary Service, Graham and his men finally managed to locate the remains of Admiral Shovell’s flagship on the Gilstone Ledge. Parts of the wreck are in 10 m (30 ft) while others can be found at between 30 m (90 ft) and 40 m (120 ft) as the sea floor falls away from the reef. The divers first discovered a cannon, and on the third dive silver and gold coins were spotted underneath that cannon. The Ministry of Defence initially suppressed news of the discovery for fear of attracting treasure hunters, but word was soon out and excited huge national interest. As the Isles of Scilly are traditionally administered as part of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Duke of Cornwall also has right of wreck on all ships wrecked on the Scilly archipelago.
More than 2,000 coins and other artefacts were finally recovered from the wreck site and auctioned by Sotheby’s in July 1969. A further sale at Sotheby’s in January 1970, by order of the Isles of Scilly Wrecks Receiver, made £10,175. Among the goods sold was Shovell’s chamber pot for £270. A battered dining plate, which had been discovered during a dive in 1968, brought £2,100. The rediscovery of Association by naval divers and the finding of so many historical artefacts in her wreck also led to more government legislation, notably the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, passed in an attempt to preserve British historic wreck sites as part of the maritime heritage.
This coin comes complete with its original certificate of authenticity.
For more information on the Association shipwreck, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilly_naval_disaster_of_1707
