- Country:Canada
- Collection:Gold Commemorative $200
- Metal:Gold
- Year:2016
- Denomination:$200
- Finish:Complete
- Weight (oz):1.0
- Purity:0.9999
- Mintage:275
- Product type:Coin
It was Canada's Golden Age of Sail. In the late 19th century, shipyards along Nova Scotia's coastline flourished as Atlantic Canada built some of the era's most famous wooden sailing ships. Launched on May 18, 1861 in the Bay of Fundy, the Amazon was one of the first vessels built in the shipyard at Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia. For six years, this brigantine generated profit for her local owners as she hauled cargo across the Atlantic and in the West Indies; and yet,history would remember the two-masted sailing ship under new ownership and a different name-one that is now synonymous with inexplicable desertion and mystery on the high seas: the Mary Celeste.
Celebrate Canada's famous tall ships with the Amazon! Order today!
Special Features:
THIRD COIN IN SERIES! Third coin in an outstanding four-coin series that proudly celebrates Canada's famous tall ships and our rich maritime heritage.
A CELEBRATION OF NOVA SCOTIA'S RICH SHIPBUILDING HISTORY! And a commemoration of the 155th anniversary of the launch of the Amazon.
MULTIPLE FINISHES! Expertly engraved with multiple finishes that bring the design to life in stunning detail, which stands as a testament to our craftsmanship.
ONE OUNCE OF PURE GOLD! Yourcoin is GST/HST exempt!
Design:
Designed by Canadian artist Neil Hamelin, your coin features a starboard view of the Nova Scotia-built brigantine known as the Amazon. The 184-ton vessel is heeled over as the wind fills her canvas sails and drives her forward through the choppy waters of the Atlantic. Beautifully intricate engraving recreates the ship in extraordinary detail, from the rigging of her headsails to the wooden planks of her hull, and even captures the anchor attached to her bow. A pennant bearing the ship's name flies atop the mainmast, while the British ensign flown from the gaff is depicted flapping in the strong wind. The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.
Did you knowÃ
The Amazon measured 30.3 metres in length, 7.8 metres across, and a depth of 3.6 metres.
After running aground in 1867, she was sold for $1,750 and was repaired at a cost of roughly $8,825; another refit in 1872 enlarged the ship at a cost of $10,000.
Sailing as the Mary Celeste, her cargo on that fateful voyage in November 1872was 1,701 barrels of denatured alcohol that was destined for Genoa, Italy, to fortify wine.
Another Nova Scotia-built brigantine, the Dei Gratia, came upon Mary Celeste on December 4, 1872 and found the ship under full sail, without a trace of her crew or lifeboat, nor any evidence of fire orfoul play.
The last record in her log bore the date November 25-nine days before she was found-and recorded her position nearly 740 kilometres from where Dei Gratia spotted her.
Theories about the crew's disappearance have ranged from a seaquake to a giant squid, or ahasty escape due to the alcoholic fumes leaking from the ship's cargo.
Mary Celeste's story has been immortalized and fictionalized in television shows, plays, songs, films and novels-including the short story Marie Celeste by Arthur Conan Doyle, who would later be known asthe creator of Sherlock Holmes.
The ship was deliberately wrecked and partially burned in a failed insurance-fraud scheme in 1885; she finally came to rest beneath the waves off thecoast of Haiti, where her wreck was identified in 2001.
