The “Faithful Steward”
During the past 75 years many Irish half-pennies, dated between 1766 and 1783 have been found on “Coin Beach”, which is south of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, near Indian River inlet. These coins are believed to be washing ashore from the wreck of the “Faithful Steward”. Another theory is that they are from the wreck of the “Three Brothers”, which was carrying currency consigned to Philadelphia. There were many wrecks along that stretch of the Atlantic around that time and to put a coin to a certain vessel is pure conjecture.
The following is a brief account of the “Faithful Steward” which sailed from Londonderry, Ireland. On Thursday, September 1, 1785, she was bound for Philadelphia with 249 passengers when weather conditions worsened as she approached the Delaware shore. The sounding showed only four fathoms (24 ft.) even though they could not see land. An effort was made to head the ship out to sea but it became stuck, at which time they cut away the mast and anything else to lighten the ship.
On the morning of September 2, they found themselves off Moboboe Bank, near Indian River, about four leagues (12 mi.) south of Cape Henlopen. Every effort was made to save the passengers, who had remained on board during the night, even though they were only about 100 yards from shore. That evening she broke to pieces, the sea running very high. The lifeboats were disengaged from the wreck, but before anyone could get in them they drifted ashore. Therefore all relief was cut off except by swimming ashore or getting ashore on pieces of the wreck. Of all the persons on board, only 68 made it to land safely. Among the survivors were the Master, his mates and ten seamen. This was probably due to their strong physical conditions and possible prowess at swimming.
Every effort to save those remaining on board was thwarted by the rough seas and the locals could just stand on the beach and watch almost 200 people perish a scant 100 yards from shore.
The 1783 half-penny pictured above was found on this very beach about 40 years ago. Though all of the British Empire coins pictured King George III on the obverse, the Irish version is distinguishable by the harp on the reverse. England had Britannia on the reverse of the coins destined to remain within England.
How much would one of these coins be worth?
ReplyDeletei would guess 1/2 cent. lol.
ReplyDeleteAnything is worth what it will bring. The coin pictured was given to my father at Wayne Pump because they knew I collected coins. While condition usually determines the value of a coin, these are all "sea-salvaged" and not in very good condition. The story that goes along with it is the valuable part of this coin. There were literally millions of these coin struck so they are not rare. While I am sure that an antique or coin shop will charge $15-25 for one of these, I would put the value more in the $3-5 range. A reputable dealer would classify this condition as less than collectible and would probably not even carry them to a show.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Chevallier, I am a descendant of one of the survivors of the wreck of the Faithful Steward. I've read that many halfpennies have been recovered over the years. I would like to give one to each of my two nephews at Christmas. Do you know anyone who would sell one or two?
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