Following on from last years RMS Empress of Ireland coin, the second release in the Royal Canadian Mints Lost Ships in Canadian Waters series is now upon us and goes back in time eighty years to remember the ill-fated expedition led by Sir John Franklin to chart the last part of the fabled North-West Passage. The mint itself has put together a detailed back story that is included below, so we won’t rehash it, but it’s certainly a story highly worthy of commemoration.
Like last years coin, it’s a one-ounce fine silver piece, selectively coloured, and with a mintage of 7,000 pieces. It’s an attractive piece, perhaps not as dynamic as the original voyage might suggest it should be, but depicting the ships in calm and serene waters, belying the sheer danger of them when conditions deteriorate. Packaged in the usual RCM burgundy snapper case, the shipper is well done and the whole a nice piece for $109.95 CAD. The 2014 Empress coin sold out, and we’d not be surprised if this followed suit. The mint also released a $35 silver-plated copper version in 2014 that carried different artwork to the pure silver coin. No sign of a 2015 release like this, but the 2014 was described as first in the series, so probably coming with the August release run. Available now.
MINTS DESCRIPTION
It was the sensational story of its time, one that still captivates the imagination 170 years later. Under Sir John Franklin’s command, two Royal Navy ships set sail with every expectation of success in May of 1845 to chart the last unknown part of the Northwest Passage—yet they never returned. Subsequent expeditions who searched for the missing ships uncovered stories and relics; then, in September 2014 came news that stunned the world: Canada’s Victoria Strait Expedition had discovered the wreck of H.M.S. Erebus, Franklin’s flagship, lying on the Arctic seabed.
This scientific breakthrough raises the possibility that new evidence could help solve some of the lingering mysteries surrounding the lost expedition and its final days, for what really happened to the Franklin expedition? In its Lost Ships in Canadian Waters series, the Royal Canadian Mint commemorates this famously ill-fated voyage with a coin that depicts Franklin’s ships before they were lost to the ice and cold waters of the Canadian North.
DESIGN: The reverse design features Canadian marine artist John Horton’s depiction of the Franklin expedition’s H.M.S. Erebus in the foreground, with H.M.S. Terror to starboard. Edging their way through ice-filled waters, the three-masted wooden vessels are seen travelling at a reduced speed under shortened canvas. The cool colour palette recreates the blue hues of the sky in daylight and the darker, icy waters of the Arctic. This stunning portrait situates the ships off of the northwest coast of King William Island, providing geographical context for their location when first deserted in 1848. Edge lettering bearing the names “H.M.S. TERROR” and “H.M.S. EREBUS” further commemorates the two vessels and the 129 men who were lost.
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SPECIFICATION
DENOMINATION | COMPOSITION | WEIGHT | DIAMETER | FINISH | MINTAGE | BOX / COA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$20 CANADIAN | 0.9999 SILVER | 31.39 g | 38.00 mm | PROOF | 7,000 | YES / YES |
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