Here is a beautiful WILLIAM & MARY HALFCROWN dated 1689   from this famous wreck . It weighs in at 14.9 gms and is 35mm diameter.   This was recovered  from the EAGLE sunk 1707 on The Isles of Scilly in what turned out to be one of Britains worst maritime disaster due to the loss of life . The Eagle was one of the larger ships in the fleet (70 Guns) with the Association as the flagship Of Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell and was returning to England following a protracted period at sea. As the salvor  have had to convert an Association Certificate to the Eagle and this will be signed and have photos of the coin attached and referenced to the cert .(The cert shown is for and earlier coin sold but you can see exactly what you will receive with the correct photos and description ) It will also come in a presentation box 

Note US buyers will not be subject to import tariffs 

HMS Eagle (1679)

HMS Eagle was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard during 1677/79. When completed she was placed in Ordinary for 10 years. She was in active commission during the War of the English Succession partaking in the Battle of Barfleur. She was rebuilt in 1699 at Chatham. She again played an active role in the early part of the War of Spanish Succession participating in the Capture of Gibraltar, and the Battle of Velez Malaga. She was wrecked in the Isles of Scilly in October 1707.

She was the seventh vessel to bear the name Eagle since it was used for a careening hulk, an ex-merchantman, purchased in 1592, and sold at Chatham in 1683.

HMS Eagle was awarded the Battle Honour Barfleur 1692,^] Gibraltar 1704,  and Velez-Malaga 1704

Service 1700 to 1707[

HMS Eagle was commissioned in 1700 under the command of Captain William Kerr for Admiral Sir George Rooke's Fleet. The Fleet sailed to the Baltic Sea in 1701. In 1702 she came under Captain James Wishart assigned to Admiral Sir George Rooke's Squadron. . The Fleet departed Portsmouth on 19 July 1702 for the Soundings at the Scilly Islands. Finally departing for Cadiz, Spain on the 22nd arriving at the Bay of Bulls, north of Cadiz on 8 August. After some success and much indecision on how to proceed the troops were withdrawn on 15 September and the Fleet departed by the 19th.

On 21 September it was learned from a watering expedition to Lagos, Portugal, that the Spanish Treasure Fleet and its French escort was in the vicinity of Vigo Bay. The Fleet sailed North to engage these vessels. After a council of War on 11 October, it was decided that only 25 vessels would be selected to attack the enemy vessels. She was not selected for the battle and remained outside of the Bay of Vigo. All enemy vessels were either taken or destroyed and much treasure was taken. The Fleet returned to England. In 1703 she was under Captain Lord Archibald Hamilton until 1705. She sailed to the Mediterranean in September 1703 for service in Sir George Rooke's Fleet. She partook in the capture of Gibraltar on 23 July 1704. She was part of the force that was to bombard the town and the south bastion. Gibraltar surrendered on the 24th. On August 13, 1704 she fought in the Battle of Velez Malaga  as a member of the Center Division, suffering 7 killed and 57 wounded.  She withdrew from the fight early for want of shot.^]

In 1706 she was under Captain Robert Hancock until his death on 22 October 1707. At First she was sailing with Sir Stafford Fairborne's Squadron off Ostend. She sailed to the Mediterranean in September 1706. She was assigned to Sir Cloudisey Shovell's Fleet in the Mediterranean in 1707. In early October the Fleet sailed for England but did not get passed tthe Scilly Islands.

There  tragically she met her fate by striking TEARING LEDGE very close to Bishop Rock and sunk with all hands .At the same time the ASSOCIATION sunk on the Gilstone Rocks with (  the ROMNEY and a fireship , the FIREBRAND managed to get near St Agnes Island and sunk losing half her crew . This was the worst tragedy by loss of crew ever to befall the British Navy and of course the loss of Sir Cloudesly Shovell englands most famous Admiral at the time .

 

ASSOCIATION and the death of Sr CLOWDISLEY SHOVELL

Scilly naval disaster of 1707 is an umbrella term  for the events of 22 October 1707 that led to the sinking of a British Naval Fleet off the Isles of Scilly. With four large ships and more than 1,400 sailors lost in stormy weather, it was one of the greatest maritime disasters in the history of the British Isles It was later determined that the main cause of the disaster was the navigators inability to accurately calculate their positions.

Background

In summer of 1707, during the War of Spanish Succession  a combined British, Austrian and Dutch force under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy besieged and attempted to take the French port of Toulon. During this campaign, which was fought from 29 July to 21 August, Great Britain dispatched a fleet to provide naval support. Led by the Commander-in-Chief of the British Fleets, Sir Cloudesley Shovell, the ships sailed to the Mediterranean, attacked Toulon and also managed to inflict damage on the French fleet caught in the siege. The overall campaign was nevertheless unsuccessful and the alliance was ultimately defeated by Franco-Spanish units. The British fleet was subsequently ordered to return home, and set sail from Gibraltar to Portsmouth in late October. The force under Shovell's command consisted of fifteen ships of the line (Association, Royal Anne, Torbay St George, , Swiftsure, Valeur as well as four fireships (Firebrand, Griffin, Phoenix Vulcan), the sloop Weasel and the yacht Isabella

Shovell's fleet of twenty-one ships left Gibraltar on 29 September, with HMS Association serving as his own flagship, HMS Royal Anne as flagship of ViceAdmiral of the Blue Sir George Byng and HMS Torbay as flagship of Rear-Admiral of the Blue Sir John Norris The passage was marked by extremely bad weather and constant squalls and gales As the fleet sailed out on the Atlantic, passing the Bay of Biscay on their way to England, the weather worsened and storms gradually pushed the ships off their planned course. Finally, on the night of 22 October 1707 (Old Style, 2 November 1707 by the modern calendar), the squadron entered the mouth of the English Channel and Shovell's sailing masters believed that they were on the last leg of their journey. The fleet was thought to be sailing safely west of Ushant an island outpost off the coast of Brittany However, due to a combination of the bad weather and the mariners' inability to accurately calculate their longitude, the fleet was unaware that it was off course and closing in on the Isles of Scilly instead. Before their mistake could be corrected, the fleet struck rocks and four ships were lost:

·                    HMS Association, a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain Edmund Loades, smashed into the Outer Gilstone Rock off Scilly?s Western Rocks at 8 p.m. and sank, drowning her entire crew of about 800 men and Admiral Shovell himself. Following behind the Association was St George whose crew saw the flagship go down in three or four minutes. St George also struck rocks and suffered damage but eventually managed to get off, as did HMS Phoenix which ran ashore between Tresco and but could be kept seaworthy.

 

·                    HMS Eagle, a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain Robert Hancock hit the Tearing Ledge  and was lost with all hands  amongst the Western Rocks. Sinking a few hundred metres away from Bishop Rock, her wreck lies in a depth of 130 feet

·                    HMS Romney a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain William Coney, is recorded to have hit Bishop Rock and went down with all but one of her crew.This wreck was proven to be the EAGLE so the whereabouts of the Romney is still not proven .We are pretty sure the Romney is partially mixed with the Association wreckage with the remains in Pednathaise Head . We found a letter seal in this area which by the initials could only be from one of the Romneys' crew .The sole survivor from the three largest ships was George Lawrence, who had worked as a butcher before joining the crew of Romney as quartermaster.

·                    HMS Firebrand, a fireship commanded by Captain Francis Percy, smashed into the Outer Gilstone Rock like Association, but unlike the flagship she was lifted off by a huge wave. Percy managed to steer his badly damaged ship along the southern side of the Western Rocks between St Agnes and Annet, but she foundered in Smith Sound, sinking close to Menglow Rock and losing 28 of her crew of 40.

·                     

The exact number of officers, sailors and marines who were killed in the sinking of the four ships is unknown. Statements vary between 1,400 and over 2,000^, making it one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history. For days afterward, bodies continued to wash onto the shores of the isles along with the smashed wreckage of the warships and personal effects. Many dead sailors from the wrecks were buried on the island of St Agnes. Admiral Shovell's body, along with those of his two Narborough stepsons and his flag-captain, Edmund Loades, washed up on Porthellick Cove on St Mary's the following day, almost seven miles from where the Association was wrecked. A small memorial was later erected at this site. The circumstances under which the admiral's remains were found gave rise to stories (see below). Shovell was temporarily buried on the beach on St Mary'. By order of Queen Anne his body was later exhumed, embalmed and taken to London where he was interred in Westminster Abbey. His large marble monument in the south choir aisle was sculpted by Grinling Gibbons There is an impressive memorial depicting the sinking of the Association in the church at the Narboroughs' home of Knowlton near Dover.