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England - 1794

Whale Fishery

Obverse:

Nude bust of Neptune with part of a trident resting on his right shoulder.

Legend:

HALFPENNY

Size:

28.7 mm.

Edge:

Plain

Reverse:

A whaling boat with a crew of four, one of whom is about to hurl a harpoon at a whale spouting water to the right.

Legend:

PAYABLE AT I. FOWLERS LONDON, with WHALE FISHERY

Exergue:

1794 in the exergue.

Vern's Comments:

Diesinker, Wyon; manufacturer, Mynd. Common.

Comments. The issuer is thought to have been John Fowler, an oil merchant and tinplate worker with a business at 78, Long Acre, at the west end of London. Most readers will be familiar with the ceremonies on board ship of "Crossing the Line" when she passes over the Equator: King Neptune and his barber pay a visit to the ship; and novices are initiated with horse play and a shave. It is not so well known, however, that the Northern Whaling fleets held a very similar ceremony on the first of May. Hence the appearance of his Oceanic Majesty on the token.

The reverse shows a whaling boat about to attack a spouting whale. The harpooner in the bow is preparing to make his throw, and then the rowers will back away to avoid the thrashing tail which could smash a boat to matchwood. If the stricken beast sounded, and the line jambed, it had to be cut immediately or the boat was pulled under. Whales, too, might tow a boat many miles, and then a rising wind prevent return to the mother ship. Every year the whaling fleet lost men in this way.

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 102-103

England — Middlesex

D & H 306 — Fowler`s

Bell Pg: 102-103

O: Head of Neptune with his trident. HALFPENNY.

A. 221

R: Whale fishery. PAYABLE AT I. FOWLERS LONDON. Ex: WHALE FISHERY 1794.

E: Plain