Coins and Masting for US Naval Ships

northcoin

Interesting factoid about coins and ships that I learned in conjunction with USS Anchorage's commissioning here in Anchorage today. When the ship was being built as part of the "Masting Ceremony" (which I assume is analogous to the "toping off" ceremony for skyscrapers) some coins were dropped into the mast.
Reportedly it is an old tradition that goes all the way back to the Romans and is supposed to bring good luck to the mariners. Legend goes that it originated with the notion that would always be a coin left to barter the survivor's way out of a jam if the ship shipwrecked or the crew otherwise fell upon dire circumstances.

Below is a link providing a virtual tour of the newly to be commissioned (later today here in Anchorage) USS Anchorage War Ship. On the video link you are welcomed by the Captain of the Ship, NU Alum Comdr Brian Quinn. (BA 1991, History Major, active in NROTC while at Northwestern,)

As a fellow alum of Northwestern, I went out to the ship today hoping to meet and welcome Captain Quinn only to learn that while he did make it here to Anchorage, his duties have been reassigned in order to allow him to focus on treatment related to a recent cancer diagnosis. Wishing the best for his recovery.

Here is a reporting from the Alaska Journal of Commerce including a quote at the end from our Mayor wishing well for Captain Quinn.

Anchorage celebrates its centennial in 2015, but like any Alaskan party, the fun is already starting.
The two-year celebration started this year, and runs through 2015.
The kick-off is in May, when the city’s namesake ship is commissioned at the Port of Anchorage.
“I think it’s a very fitting way for Anchorage to kick off the centennial,” said Julie Saupe, Visit Anchorage president and a member of the commissioning committee.
The 684-foot U.S.S. Anchorage is scheduled to arrive May 1. It will be commissioned May 4.
“To have this ship named after our community and to have a chance to celebrate with the crew, I think is very meaningful,” Saupe said.
The U.S.S. Anchorage was built in New Orleans, La., and finished in September 2012. Led by Commanding Officer Comdr. Joel Stewart, it is the seventh San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. Stewart took over for Capt. Brian Quinn April 18. Quinn had to step down due to a cancer diagnosis.
The Anchorage is a village of its own, with a company of 360 sailors.
The ship is already on its way from San Diego, where it is home ported, and expected to arrive on the morning of May 1.
Its five-day visit is half the length that was originally planned. Officials close to the event blamed sequestration, but the municipality had not received official word that those cuts were to blame, just budget issues.
Despite the changed dates and new commander, the ship is on-schedule to arrive in Anchorage.
“Within the ship’s crest you will see a phrase, Nil Fato Relinquemus, a Latin phrase that means: leave nothing to chance. Today, it’s time for Captain Quinn to follow the ship’s motto that he created, and leave nothing to chance with his health,” wrote Mayor Dan Sullivan in a statement.





Virtual Tour of the USS Anchorage

ricko

Great.... I like the hat and the medallion.... Cheers, RickO

northcoin

Thanks

northcoin

Duplicate post ..

CoinZip

Awesome post, I spent 6 years in the USN. Commissioned 2 ships and had no idea about "Masting"

Thanks for sharing.

ebaytrader

<< <i>Awesome post, I spent 6 years in the USN. Commissioned 2 ships and had no idea about "Masting"

Thanks for sharing. >>




The proper term is "stepping the mast". It's a tradition that goes back to ancient Greek mariners. It was believed that doing so would guarantee enough money to pay the crew if a ship wrecked at sea. Another legend from Greek mythology is that the ferryman at the River Styx, gateway to the underworld, makes sure that everyone who passes his way has enough silver to pay the toll into Hades.

PerryHall

<< <i>

<< <i>Awesome post, I spent 6 years in the USN. Commissioned 2 ships and had no idea about "Masting"

Thanks for sharing. >>




The proper term is "stepping the mast". It's a tradition that goes back to ancient Greek mariners. It was believed that doing so would guarantee enough money to pay the crew if a ship wrecked at sea. Another legend from Greek mythology is that the ferryman at the River Styx, gateway to the underworld, makes sure that everyone who passes his way has enough silver to pay the toll into Hades. >>



This is what I've read---the boatman's name was Charon. The greeks also buried their dead with a coin in their mouth to pass for passage to Hades. I doubt anyone would expect to find any coins after a shipwreck.

MacCrimmon

<< <i>Great.... I like the hat and the medallion.... Cheers, RickO >>




Interesting thread . . . . . in my "nautical" days I acquired a glass-top coffee table via a PBS auction. That glass top is about 1/2" thick and was once one of the bridge windows from the stern of the S.S. Anchorage, a WW2 Type C4-class ship.

If I remember, I'll shoot a pic when I return home.

Luck and safe seas to the new Anchorage.

northcoin

<< <i>

<< <i>Great.... I like the hat and the medallion.... Cheers, RickO >>




Interesting thread . . . . . in my "nautical" days I acquired a glass-top coffee table via a PBS auction. That glass top is about 1/2" thick and was once one of the bridge windows from the stern of the S.S. Anchorage, a WW2 Type C4-class ship.

If I remember, I'll shoot a pic when I return home.

Luck and safe seas to the new Anchorage. >>



Very interesting. Here is a photo of the bell from the original USS Anchorage which is carried aboard the new one. Also note the Moose Horns that accompany the ship and which are incorporated into the ship's emblem design along with a Captain Cook's ship that explored and mapped the Cook Inlet which is the body of water adjacent to Anchorage.

coinlieutenant

Very cool.

San Antonio class ships are pretty cool. We steamed with the USS New York through the Straits of Hormuz a couple of times. Pretty fast for how big and non nuclear they are. We had to slow down to let them stay with us, but not a ton. Driving the carrier is like driving a Porsche of ships. Pretty freaking fast compared to everything out there.

They (San Antonio class) are a class of ship that rotates from Aviator to Surface Warfare Officer as the Commanding officer these days. For an Aviator, it is known as their "Deep Draft" tour, geting them ready to go take command of an aircraft carrier...which is always commanded by an aviator. The aviator COs of the LPDs come straight from an XO tour on a carrier. My old XO was supposed to get one of these ships, the USS Arlington, but got the USS Gunston Hall instead. He was not happy I bet....

northcoin

OK. Here are some shots of the lower level where the hovercraft type "dock" is stored. Check out the original video link though to see it in operation.

MacCrimmon

Seeing that brass bell reminded me that my Anchorage bridge window is mounted in a "massively" thick brass frame......it also reminds me that the frame could stand to be polished. Any of you Navy guys want to volunteer.

DaveG

northcoin,

When did you graduate?

I was about to write that reading that a 1991 grad was a Commander made me feel somewhat "old" until I realized that the guys I knew in the NROTC unit would, most likely, all be retired by now.

(As would I, had I stayed in, since I was CAS 1979, but, thankfully, not NROTC.)

ProofArtworkonCircs

I remember in 1964, the mainmast was replaced on the Constitution in Boston. This was the day before the Kennedy half dollar was released. By special arrangement with the FRB of Boston, a Kennedy half was put under the mast. I reported it to Coin World. They told me I was mistaken. Nobody could get a Kennedy half early.

northcoin

<< <i>I remember in 1964, the mainmast was replaced on the Constitution in Boston. This was the day before the Kennedy half dollar was released. By special arrangement with the FRB of Boston, a Kennedy half was put under the mast. I reported it to Coin World. They told me I was mistaken. Nobody could get a Kennedy half early. >>



What a cool story. Did they check to see if there were any coins remaining from the original placement of the mast?

northcoin

<< <i>

<< <i>Awesome post, I spent 6 years in the USN. Commissioned 2 ships and had no idea about "Masting"

Thanks for sharing. >>




The proper term is "stepping the mast". It's a tradition that goes back to ancient Greek mariners. It was believed that doing so would guarantee enough money to pay the crew if a ship wrecked at sea. Another legend from Greek mythology is that the ferryman at the River Styx, gateway to the underworld, makes sure that everyone who passes his way has enough silver to pay the toll into Hades. >>



Here was from the official press release for the USS Anchorage's Mast Stepping Ceremony:

"AVONDALE, LA. (Sept. 7, 2012). ..... Conway visited the ship to take part in a mast stepping ceremony, which is a shipbuilding tradition that dates back to Ancient Rome During the ceremony, coins .... are placed into the mast prior to it being secured in place. The coins are meant to bring the ship luck as well as to "pay the crews way" in the event the ship sinks."

johnny9434

id love to see one for the uss ashville

northcoin

As a footnote, as I watch from my office balcony, the horn has sounded, the tugs have positioned themselves, and the USS Anchorage is preparing for departure from the port of Anchorage for its 7 day journey to home port of San Diego. Guess it was fitting that snow fell Saturday morning as the commissioning ceremonies for this Alaska city named warship proceeded.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<<< I remember in 1964, the mainmast was replaced on the Constitution in Boston. This was the day before the Kennedy half dollar was released. By special arrangement with the FRB of Boston, a Kennedy half was put under the mast. I reported it to Coin World. They told me I was mistaken. Nobody could get a Kennedy half early. >>



What a cool story. Did they check to see if there were any coins remaining from the original placement of the mast? >>

I am sorry. I don't remember if anything was reported on that. I think Coin World finally did run the story on the Kennedy half.

northcoin

<< <i>As a footnote, as I watch from my office balcony, the horn has sounded, the tugs have positioned themselves, and the USS Anchorage is preparing for departure from the port of Anchorage for its 7 day journey to home port of San Diego. Guess it was fitting that snow fell Saturday morning as the commissioning ceremonies for this Alaska city named warship proceeded. >>




Here is the ship as it sailed away.









(By way of comparison, below are photos previously taken during the filming of the movie "Big Miracle" which depicts the ice field set in the same location as the foreground in the above photos.)

Flash

Quite interesting! I enjoyed the virtual tour, however, they didn't show the most important part of the ship; the part but for which the ship would be useless.. the engine rooms. I don't understand the current trend for ship crews to be wearing cammoflage uniforms onboard. What was wrong with the old dungaree uniforms that were worn when I served in the Navy? Cammos seem rather useless onboard a ship.

northcoin

<< <i>Quite interesting! I enjoyed the virtual tour, however, they didn't show the most important part of the ship; the part but for which the ship would be useless.. the engine rooms. I don't understand the current trend for ship crews to be wearing cammoflage uniforms onboard. What was wrong with the old dungaree uniforms that were worn when I served in the Navy? Cammos seem rather useless onboard a ship. >>



I hear you being something of a traditionalist myself. Of course on this ship there is a contingent of marines who operate the landing vehicles and they would benefit from the camouflage in accomplishing their misisons. In this photo you can see better the, I assume, Marine operated Osprey on the ship's deck. It actually flew up to Alaska separately but as you can see from the departure photo it looks like it is piggyback riding back. Interesting in looking at the interior photos below, the Marines wear a more traditional camouflage while the Navy Seamen wear a blue camouflage. Have to agree that blue as camouflage is something of an oxymoron.

northcoin

<< <i>OK. Here are some shots of the lower level where the hovercraft type "dock" is stored. Check out the original video link though to see it in operation.





>>



And here is a photo of one of the "hospital" rooms. One of the ship's missions is to be available for humanitarian purposes such as the US Navy performed when a similar ship so equipped provided medical assistance to the Haitian disaster victims.