The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 11, March 18, 2007, Article 26

NAVAL COIN CUSTOM IN THE NEWS: STEPPING THE SHIP'S MAST

The Lookout of Victoria, British Columbia (a newspaper for the Canadian 
military Pacific fleet), reports that "After two months alongside, HMCS 
Oriole is back to sailing condition, with a refinished mast, new rigging 
and brighter lights. 

"During installation, Chief Boatswain PO1 Jim Levesque placed a set of 
2007 coins on the mast step, which were specially ordered from the Royal 
Canadian Mint. They joined the rusted and warped coins placed by previous 
crews as part of a naval tradition that dates back to the Romans. Sailors 
place coins under the mast of a ship every time it is repaired as ferry 
payment to the underworld should they become shipwrecked." 

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

And according to a press release issued March 6th, "Invoking a millennia 
of maritime and shipbuilding tradition, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), 
currently in drydock at Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard, stepped 
its new mast today in a solemn ceremony on the flight deck.

"The ceremony involved a series of remarks by distinguished guests and 
culminated in the welding of a commemorative metal plaque to the base of 
the ship?s new mast. USS Carl Vinson Commanding Officer Ted Carter lead 
the ceremony

"As Capt. Carter explained, the ceremonial placing of coins at the base 
of a ship?s mast is a practice that goes back to at least the ancient 
Romans. It was thought to bring good luck to a ship and her crew, and 
the Navy adopted the ceremony as part of its traditional shipbuilding 
practice.

"Pictured is an 1883 penny, which was placed at the base of the mast 
of USS Carl Vinson during the ship's commissioning. On March 6, 2007, 
this ceremonial penny was placed back under Carl Vinson's new mast. The 
penny will now become a permanent fixture for the carrier's next 25 
years of service to the fleet.

To read the complete Press Release, see: Press Release

[This is a timely topic - I located a 2007 academic paper by Deborah N. 
Carlson (of the Nautical Archaeology Program, Department of Anthropology, 
Texas A&M University), titled "Mast-Step Coins Among the Romans". The 
paper confirms that the practice can be traced to the Romans but also 
indicates that the tradition goes back even farther. The paper grew 
out of a graduate seminar in Greek and Roman Numismatics taught by 
Professor John Kroll at the University of Texas at Austin.

"The archaeological evidence of more than a dozen ancient shipwrecks 
indicates that the tradition of placing a coin inside the mast-step of 
a ship?s hold probably originated with the Romans. The mast-step coin 
phenomenon, which persisted through the Middle Ages and continues in 
various forms today, has often been characterized according to the 
modern concept of ?luck?.

"The custom was, however, not one of an exclusively maritime nature; 
rather, it was ultimately derived from a long-standing religious tradition 
that can be traced back to the consecration of the earliest Greek temples."

To read the complete paper, see: Full Story

[I know there are plenty of shipwreck coin collectors. Anyone own a 
ship's mast coin? -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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