1881 Swiss Fribourg Shooting Thaler Annie E. Smale Shipwreck W COA Ex. Peterson

Description: The four-masted schooner Annie E. Smale was laden with 1400 tons of coal, sailing from Australia to San Francisco when it grounded on the rocks off Point Reyes, California. The accident happened while the ship was picking its way through heavy fog at about 2 a.m. on Saturday, July 8, 1910. According to newspaper accounts, the Smale had been at sea for 100 days and was just completing its long journey across the Pacific. A fog horn at Point Reyes was sounding that morning, and Captain J. E. Anderson said the crew had just started to hear it only moments before the wreck. Anderson said there was too little wind for him to successfully change the course. Realizing the ship was dangerously close to shore, he ordered the anchors dropped to hold the vessel in deep water. The anchors failed to hold, and the rolling seas drove the Smale into the rocks. The schooner struck broadside, and the force of the impact opened the hull. Anderson had the life boats lowered and gave the order to abandon ship. Help was quick to arrive. The fog lifted enough that the lookout at the Point Reyes lighthouse saw the wreck and sounded emergency blasts on the horn. The steamer M. F. Plant was in the area and heard the signal rescuing all but one crew who drowned. This coin is one of two known recovered from the wreck by Dr. Mendel Peterson sometime between 1950 and 1970 and placed in his personal collection while he was the curator of underwater archeology for the Smithsonian (modern museum rules back then would've resulted in this coin being owned by the National Numismatic Collection). The other coin from this wreck is a heavily chopmarked non corroded 1883 Go BR Mexico 8 Reales, which currently resides in the Knapton Collection.

Price: 10000 USD

Location: Lake Worth, Florida

End Time: 2024-12-22T22:28:15.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD