Royal Australian Mint, 2021 Australian Shipwreck Series – Zeewijk 1 oz .999 Silver Coin in Capsule

Description

The Royal Australian Mint presents the fourth and final release in the Australian Shipwreck series featuring the Zeewijk. For the first time in bullion, the series will feature coins that are triangular-shaped in design. The Zeewijk follows on from the first three popular releases in the series featuring the Batavia, Gilt Dragon and Zuytdorp.

The exquisite design of the reverse conveys two scenes to communicate the journey of the Zeewijk. With the image of the ship viewed upright, the Zeewijk is shown setting sail in its full glory. Flipping the coin to view the text of ‘1727’ and ‘Zeewijk’ upright depicts the ship in its final state capsized shortly after wrecking in 1727. The obverse design depicts scenes from the dramatic story of the Zeewijk.

Product Features

• Fourth and final release in the popular and unique Australian Shipwreck Series
• Limited mintage of just 20,000 coins
• Struck from 1oz of 99.9% pure silver and issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965.
• Reverse design: With the image of the ship viewed upright, the Zeewijk is shown setting sail in its full glory. Flipping the coin to view the text of ‘1727’ and ‘Zeewijk’ upright depicts the ship in its final state capsized shortly after wrecking in 1727.
• Obverse design: depicts scenes from the dramatic story of the Zeewijk
• Presented in an acrylic capsule that fits the coin’s unique shape
• Packaged in sealed rolls of 10 and boxes of 240

History & Significance

The Zeewijk left the Netherlands in 1726 for Batavia with 208 seamen and a rich cargo of more than 315,000 guilders in ten chests. Having lost 28 men by the time it reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1727, further disaster soon struck when the Zeewijk hit reef off the Western Australian coast.

Managing to set up camp on a nearby island and saving the chests of guilders, 11 of the survivors later launched the longboat to raise the alarm in Batavia. Tragically, these men were never seen again.

Meanwhile, the remaining crew salvaged material from the Zeewijk’s wreck and ingeniously built another boat, named ‘Sloepie,’ reinforced with local mangrove timber. More than ten months after being shipwrecked, the men and chests of guilders set sail in Sloepie. After just four weeks, 82 survivors victoriously landed at Batavia in their makeshift boat.

The Zeewijk was the last Dutch East Indiaman to be wrecked off the Western Australian coast and Sloepie was the first boat built by Europeans in Australia.