St Justin – Set of 2 Assorted Pirate Coins

HMS Association shipwreck replica coins reproduced in pewter, varied sizes.

On the 22nd October 1707 the Isles of Scilly bore witness to the second worst disaster in the history of the Royal Navy. The British naval fleet, under the command of Sir Clowdisley Shovell, was returning from Gibraltar to Portsmouth during October 1707. Due to a combination of bad weather and the inability of mariners to accurately calculate their longitudinal position, the fleet lost its way approaching the Isles of Scilly. Subsequently four men-o’-war, together with the flagship HMS Association, were wrecked on Western Rocks. 1450 men lost their lives. The finding of HMS Association in 1967, by a Royal Navy diving expedition and the discovery of hoards of silver coins led to more government legislation, notably the 1973 Protection of Wrecks Act – an attempt to preserve British historic wreck sites as part of our maritime heritage. 30,000 coins have so far been recovered since the relocation of the wreck.