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The fifth coin in a Tall Ships dollar collection features Royal Navy ship HMS Nymph, a 14-gun Swan-class sloop of the British Royal Navy. The 2022 virenium coin shows an image of the ship before it sank.
HMS Nymph was commissioned in May 1778 under Commander William Denne, and served in the English Channel. The ship came under Commander John Blankett in January 1779 and sailed for the East Indies on March 8 that year to join Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes’ East India fleet.
Its role was to protect English interests and island inhabitants from French and American privateers. Its duties included protecting interests in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras and serving as an escort to East India merchant convoys. It served in the East Indies until returning to Britain to be refitted and re-coppered at Plymouth between August and October 1782. The Nymph then sailed for the Leeward Islands on Dec. 5, 1782.
While at Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, a fire broke out on June 28, 1783. The crew abandoned ship and it burnt out and sank in Road Town’s harbour, with a loss of three men.
The coin is struck from virenium, a base metal developed by Pobjoy Mint.
The obverse features an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II used exclusively by Pobjoy Mint.
The coin weighs 8 grams, measures 28.4 millimeters in diameter, and has a mintage limit of 1,950 pieces.
It retails for $14.95.
For more information, or to order, visit the Pobjoy Mint website, www.pobjoy.com.
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