113-554: SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1919 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941. 85 of her complement were killed, and only one person survived. When she was sunk, her cargo included 7 million ounces of silver bullion . In 2012 and 2013 a US company recovered part of the bullion, and in 2014 the Royal Mint struck 20,000 silver coins from it. Gairsoppa
226-452: A Wedgwood plate featuring Britannia . In 2007, the Mint decided to resume its focus on coins, downsizing non-coin related business and discontinuing its Classics range. The 2008 global financial crisis was another financial blow: a rescue package costing £500 billion was announced to help stabilise Britain's banking system. This led to fears that the government would attempt to finance
339-554: A limited company , Royal Mint Ltd . The owner of the new company became The Royal Mint trading fund, which itself continued to be owned by HM Treasury . As its sole shareholder, the mint pays an annual dividend of £4 million to the Treasury, with the remaining profits being reinvested into the mint. In 2015, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a £20 billion privatisation drive to raise funds, with
452-497: A pattern coin of Edward VIII , a Janvier reducing machine and a selection of trial plates . In the same month, the mint took in 48 tonnes of silver recovered from the shipwreck of the SS Gairsoppa (torpedoed in 1941), which was used to produce limited edition coins. In 2015, after nearly 50 years, the mint began producing its own line of bullion bars and coins under its revived Royal Mint Refinery brand. Then in 2016,
565-420: A pennyweight (0.05 oz); however, these standards meant losses were being made from overvalued metals. In one such case, Ansell delivered 7920.00 oz of gold to the mint, where it was weighed by an official at 7918.15 oz, a difference of 1.85 oz. Requesting a second weighing on a more accurate scale, the bullion was certified to weigh 7919.98 oz, far closer to the previous measurement, which
678-495: A sea anchor to lay to until dawn, and then set sail and set a course east. The boat's rudder was broken, so Ayres used an oar to steer. The boat was victualled with drinking water, hardtack , and cans of condensed milk . Ayres rationed the provisions, but the drinking water ran out after eight days. In the first seven days, all but seven men died from either exposure or drinking seawater . The boat's remaining occupants contracted frostbite . On 1 March 1941 Ayres' boat sighted
791-745: A Scots mark was worth just 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 pence while an English mark was worth 6 shillings 8 pence (80 pence). To bridge the difference between the values, unofficial supplementary token coins , often made from lead , were made by unauthorised minters across the country. By 1612, there were 3,000 such unlicensed mints producing these tokens, none of them paying anything to the government. The Royal Mint, not wanting to divert manpower from minting more profitable gold and silver coins, hired outside agent Lord Harington who, under license, started issuing copper farthings in 1613. Private licenses to mint these coins were revoked in 1644, which led traders to resume minting their own supplementary tokens. In 1672,
904-584: A catalyst for change at The Royal Mint, spurring innovation and a portfolio of new businesses. In 2024, The Royal Mint unveiled its new Precious Metals Recovery facility at its site in south Wales. The 3,700 square metre facility provides a more sustainable source of gold to the business; reducing its reliance on mining. It uses world-first patented chemistry from Canadian clean tech company Excir, extracting gold from printed circuit boards (PCBs) found in everyday items, such as TVs, laptops and mobile phones, in minutes. Excir’s chemistry works at room temperature, creating
1017-624: A convoy of 30 merchant ships bound for Liverpool . However, heavy weather slowed the convoy, and Gairsoppa ' s bunkers ran low. On 15 February her Master , Captain Gerald Hyland, detached her from SL64, reduced her speed to 5 knots (9 km/h) to conserve coal, and changed course for the nearest sheltered anchorage, which was Galway Bay in neutral Ireland for bunkering . A German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft circled Gairsoppa at 08:00 on 16 February. Then U-101 sighted her at 1800 hrs, but heavy seas delayed its attack. U-101 fired
1130-501: A convoy to the UK. Her cargo included 2,600 tons of pig iron, 1,765 tons of tea, 2,369 tons of general cargo, 200 tons of silver ingots and coins, and a consignment of mail. The silver was worth £600,000 in 1941, and was destined for the Royal Mint to mint new coins. Gairsoppa ' s crew comprised 11 UK officers, crewmen, and DEMS gunners; 84 lascars ; and one Chinese carpenter. On 30 January 1941 Gairsoppa left Freetown with SL 64:
1243-522: A few gold and silver coins before being shut down in 1862 to aid the city of Victoria in becoming the region's provincial capital . On 26 February 1864, an Order in Council requested the founding of an independent mint ( Hong Kong Mint ) in British Hong Kong to issue silver and bronze coins. But this mint was short-lived, due to its coins being heavily debased, causing significant losses. The site
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#17328526725941356-509: A few local and episcopal mints continuing to operate. Pipe rolls containing the financial records of the London mint show an expenditure of £729 17s 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 d and records of timber bought for workshops. Individual roles at the mint were well established by 1464. The master worker was charged with hiring engravers and managing moneyers , while the Warden was responsible for witnessing
1469-469: A loss of gold during the manufacturing process. He found that 15 to 20 ounces could be recovered from the sweep, that is, the leftover burnt rubbish from the minting process, which was often left in open boxes for many months before being removed. Wanting to account for every particle and knowing that it was physically impossible for gold just to disappear, he put down the lost weight to a combination of oil , dust , and different types of foreign matter amongst
1582-608: A merchant ship's prefix, denotes that it is a T urbine S teamer. Famous cargo ships include the 2,710 Liberty ships of World War II , partly based on a British design . Liberty ship sections were prefabricated in locations across the United States and then assembled by shipbuilders in an average of six weeks, with the record being just over four days. These ships allowed the Allies in World War II to replace sunken cargo vessels at
1695-534: A name beginning with "G"; either before they were launched; or between launch and completion. Gairsoppa was the first of four "B" type ships that BI acquired from Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company , who had shipyards on the River Tyne at Hebburn and Jarrow . Palmers also built War Zebra , which BI renamed Gurna ; War Llama , which BI renamed Gamaria , and War Reynard , which BI renamed Garmula . Palmers built Gairsoppa at Hebburn as yard number 894. She
1808-529: A narrow channel between Indonesia and Singapore / Malaysia , and cargo ships are still commonly targeted. In 2004, the governments of those three nations agreed to provide better protection for the ships passing through the Straits. The waters off Somalia and Nigeria are also prone to piracy, while smaller vessels are also in danger along parts of the South American coasts, Southeast Asian coasts, and near
1921-557: A rate greater than the Kriegsmarine 's U-boats could sink them, and contributed significantly to the war effort, the delivery of supplies, and eventual victory over the Axis powers. Liberty ships were followed by the faster Victory ships . Canada built Park ships and Fort ships to meet the demand for the Allies shipping. The United Kingdom built Empire ships and used US Ocean ships . After
2034-417: A single screw , driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine built by Palmers. It was rated at 517 NHP or 3,000 ihp , She achieved 11.7 knots (21.7 km/h) on her sea trials . BI registered Gairsoppa at Glasgow . Her official number was 141924 and her code letters were KCRV. The ship was equipped for wireless telegraphy from new. On 29 April 1930 Gairsoppa grounded at Fulta Point in
2147-481: A sport were selected by the Mint; the youngest designer was just 9 years old. A £2 coin commemorating London's handover to Rio de Janeiro was also released in 2012. In April 2014, the Mint announced plans to develop a visitor centre in Llantrisant, where members of the public could go on a guided tour of the facility and learn about the mint's history. The development contract, estimated to be worth £7.7 million,
2260-484: A spread of two torpedoes at 2328 hrs and a third torpedo at 2332 hrs, all of which missed. At 0008 hrs on 17 February U-101 fired a fourth torpedo, which hit the starboard side of Gairsoppa ' s number 2 hold. The ship caught fire and settled by the bow. At 0020 hrs U-101 fired a fourth torpedo as a coup de grâce , but it missed. Gairsoppa ' s crew abandoned ship in three of her lifeboats , and she sank about 20 minutes after being hit. Her reported position
2373-469: A year to the area. By May 2016, two years after its announcement, the attraction, designed by Rio Architects and now named Royal Mint Experience , opened to the public at a final cost of £9 million. The visitor centre includes an interactive museum, a view of the factory floor, an education centre, and a press where visitors can strike their own souvenir 50 pence coin . On display at the centre are more than 80,000 artefacts, including Olympic medals ,
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#17328526725942486-433: Is increasing: with bunker fuel consumption at 278 million tonnes per year in 2001, it is projected to be at 500 million tonnes per year in 2020. International standards to dramatically reduce sulphur content in marine fuels and nitrogen oxide emissions have been put in place. Among some of the solutions offered is changing over the fuel intake to clean diesel or marine gas oil, while in restricted waters and cold ironing
2599-419: Is known about the mint's employees, with only Richard Vyvyan and clerk Thomas Hawkes recorded. Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the newly formed Commonwealth of England established its own set of coins, which for the first time used English rather than Latin and were more plainly designed than those issued under the monarchy . The government invited French engineer Peter Blondeau , who worked at
2712-460: The Bank of England . On average, it produces two billion pound sterling coins struck for general circulation every year, with an estimated 28 billion pieces circulating altogether. Outside the UK, historically, the mint has provided services to over 60 countries, including New Zealand and many Caribbean nations, by producing national currencies or supplying ready-to-strike planchets . In 2015, it
2825-717: The Caribbean Sea . A category designation appears before the vessel's name. A few examples of prefixes for naval ships are "USS" ( United States Ship ), "HMS" ( Her/His Majesty’s Ship ), "HMCS" ( Her/His Majesty's Canadian Ship ) and "HTMS" (His Thai Majesty's Ship), while a few examples for prefixes for merchant ships are "RMS" ( Royal Mail Ship , usually a passenger liner), "MV" ( Motor Vessel , powered by diesel ), "MT" (Motor Tanker, powered vessel carrying liquids only) "FV" Fishing Vessel and "SS" ( Screw Steamer , driven by propellers or screws, often understood to stand for Steamship ). "TS", sometimes found in first position before
2938-665: The Constable of the Tower . Facing the front of the site stood the Johnson Smirke Building, named for its designer James Johnson and builder Robert Smirke . Construction was supervised by the architect John Lidbury Poole (father of the famous singer, Elizabeth Poole ). This building was flanked on both sides by gatehouses behind which another building housed the mint's new machinery. Several other smaller buildings were erected, which housed mint officers and staff members. The entire site
3051-799: The English Channel . The first record of coins being minted in Britain is attributed to Kentish tribes such as the Cantii who around 80–60 BC imitated those of Marseille through casting instead of hammering . After the Romans began their invasion of Britain in AD ;43, they set up mints across the land, which produced Roman coins for some 40 years before closing. A mint in London reopened briefly in 383 until closing swiftly as Roman rule in Britain came to an end. For
3164-503: The European Union is planning stricter controls on emissions. Cargo ships have been reported to have a possible negative impact on the population of whale sharks. Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2022 that whale sharks , the largest species of fish, have been disappearing mysteriously over the past 75 years, with research pointing to cargo ships and large vessels as the likely culprits. A study involving over 75 researchers highlighted
3277-626: The Five Members , he was forced to flee London and established at least 16 emergency mints across the British Isles in Carlisle , Chester , Colchester , Cork , Dublin , Edinburgh , Exeter , Newark , Pontefract , Salisbury , Scarborough , parts of Cornwall including Truro , Weymouth , Worcester , and York (see also siege money ). After raising the royal standard in Nottingham , marking
3390-657: The Hooghly River in West Bengal . She was refloated undamaged under her own power later that day. By 1930 Gairsoppa ' s call sign was GCZB. In 1934 this superseded her code letters. Toward the end of 1940 Gairsoppa left Calcutta bound for the UK. In the first week of January 1941 she called at Durban and Cape Town in South Africa . On 22 January she arrived off Freetown in Sierra Leone , where she waited to join
3503-512: The Jog Falls near Gerusoppa, which India's British rulers called Gairsoppa Falls. Gerusoppa was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire , and has the remains of a 16th-century Jain temple . In 1919 and 1920 BI acquired 16 new "B" type cargo ships from various UK shipbuilders. The Shipping Controller had ordered each of them with a standard " War ____ " name. BI renamed each of them with
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3616-1038: The Kingdom of England , all of Great Britain , the United Kingdom , and nations across the Commonwealth . The Royal Mint operated within the Tower of London for several hundred years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court , where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new 38-acre (15 ha) plant in Llantrisant , Glamorgan , Wales , where it has remained since. Since 2018 The Royal Mint has been evolving its business to help offset declining cash use. It has expanded into precious metals investment, historic coins, and luxury collectibles, which saw it deliver an operating profit of £12.7 million in 2020–2021. In 2022 The Royal Mint announced it
3729-550: The Lizard Lighthouse on the coast of Cornwall . The men were too weak to row, but they shortened sail. As they neared the shore, in Caerthillian Cove, in the parish of Landewednack , a wave overturned the boat, drowning four of the men. Another wave righted the boat again, and Ayres dragged himself, the radio officer, and a deck hand back into the boat. Another wave overturned the boat a second time. The three men clung to
3842-545: The Nazis planned to collapse the British economy by flooding the country with forged notes, leading the Bank of England to stop issuing banknotes of £10 and above. To meet these demands, the Mint doubled its output so that by 1943 it was minting around 700 million coins a year despite the constant threat of being bombed. The Deputy Master of the Mint, John Craig, recognised the dangers to the Mint and introduced several measures to ensure
3955-617: The Paris Mint , to come to London in 1649 in the hope of modernising the country's minting process. In France, hammer-stuck coins had been banned from the Paris Mint since 1639 and replaced with milled coinage . Blondeau began his testing in May 1651 in Drury House . He initially produced milled silver pattern pieces of half-crowns , shillings and sixpences ; however rival moneyers continued using
4068-402: The 7,000,000 ounces (200 tonnes) of silver from Gairsoppa , and also 600,000 ounces (17 tonnes) of silver from the wreck of another BI ship, Mantola , that a U-boat had sunk in 1917, and whose wreck is only about 60 nautical miles (110 km) from Gairsoppa ' s. On 25 September 2011 Odyssey announced that, using an ROV , it had found and identified Gairsoppa ' s wreck. It is on
4181-423: The Mint came under increased scrutiny of how it dealt with unrefined gold that had entered the country. The Master of the Mint had been responsible for overseeing the practice since the position's inception in the 14th century. However, the refinery process proved too costly and suffered from a lack of accountability from the master. A Royal Commission was set up in 1848 to address these issues; it recommended that
4294-523: The Mint could continue to operate in the event of a disaster. Craig added emergency water supplies, reinforced the Mint's basement to act as an air-raid shelter and even accepted employment of women for the first time. For most of the war, the mint managed to escape most of the destruction of the Blitz , but in December 1940 three members of staff were killed in an air raid . Around the same time, an auxiliary mint
4407-427: The Mint; each medal was struck 15 times with 900 tonnes of force. In addition to securing the medal product contract, the Mint held a competition to design a series of commemorative 50p coins that would enter general circulation before the event. The Mint received over 30,000 entries, with a further 17,000 from a children's competition on the television programme Blue Peter . In all, a total of 29 designs featuring
4520-573: The Royal Family would face protests because some Welsh people were unhappy about the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales ; however, no such protests materialised. The second phase of construction began in 1973 and included the addition of a means to mint coins from raw metals; thus completing the full minting process. Upon completion the final cost for the land, buildings and plant came to £8 million. Coin minting gradually shifted to
4633-636: The Royal Mint being up for sale alongside other institutions including the Met Office and Companies House . In 2012 The Royal Mint had a network of hundreds of UK sellers of their products. This ensured competitive pricing and availability to the UK public. After London was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics , the Royal Mint put in a successful bid to manufacture the Games' Olympic and Paralympic medals . 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals were produced by
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4746-550: The Royal Mint finally took over the production of copper coinage. In 1630, sometime before the outbreak of the English Civil War , England signed a treaty with Spain that ensured a steady supply of silver bullion to the Tower mint . Additional branch mints to aid the one in London were set up, including one at Aberystwyth Castle in Wales. In 1642, parliament seized control of the Tower mint. After Charles I tried to arrest
4859-434: The Royal Mint on 19 Royal Mint Street under the name of Royal Mint Refinery . As Britain's influence as a world power expanded, with colonies being established abroad, a greater need for currency led to the Royal Mint opening satellite branches overseas. This need first arose in the then- Colony of New South Wales , as the black-market trade in gold during and following the 1851 Australian gold rush threatened to undermine
4972-593: The Sydney branch closed after 72 years of operation at the end of 1926. Following the establishment of the Royal Australian Mint as a central mint for Australian coinage, the Melbourne and Perth mints were divested by the Royal Mint on 1 July 1970. In Canada , which had been under British rule since 1763, British coins circulated alongside those of other nations until 1858, when London started producing coins for
5085-592: The Sydney branch led to the opening of similar branches in Melbourne and Perth , on 2 June 1872 and 20 June 1899 respectively. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901 and the establishment of a separate Australian pound in 1910, all three branches were used by the Commonwealth government to mint circulating coins for Australia. The Melbourne and Perth branches had capabilities superior to those in Sydney, and they took over production responsibilities for Australia when
5198-493: The amount of precious metal in coins significantly reduced. In order to strengthen control of the country's currency, monasteries were dissolved, which effectively ended major coin production outside London . In 1603, the Union of Crowns of England and Scotland under King James I led to a partial union of the two kingdoms' currencies, the pound Scots and the pound sterling . Because Scotland had heavily debased its silver coins,
5311-462: The beginning of the civil war, Charles called on loyalist mining engineer Thomas Bushell , the owner of a mint and silver mine in Aberystwyth , to move his operations to the royalist-held Shrewsbury , possibly within the grounds of Shrewsbury Castle . However, this mint was short-lived, operating for no more than three months before Charles ordered Bushell to relocate the mint to his headquarters in
5424-408: The canal locks a ship can fit in, water depth ( draft ) is a limitation for canals, shallow straits or harbors and height is a limitation in order to pass under bridges. Common categories include: [REDACTED] The TI-class supertanker is an Ultra Large Crude Carrier, with a draft that is deeper than Suezmax, Malaccamax and Neopanamax. This causes Atlantic/Pacific routes to be very long, such as
5537-634: The colony's economy. In 1851 the colony's Legislative Council sent Queen Victoria a petition seeking a local mint for Sydney , and in 1853 the Queen issued an Order in Council providing for the establishment of the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint . The Royal Mint's Superintendent of Coining travelled to Australia to oversee its establishment on Macquarie Street within the southern wing of Sydney Hospital , where it opened in 1855. Production increased quickly: assayer's notes from 29 October 1855 indicate that
5650-520: The cost by selling off state-owned organisations. In his 2009 pre-budget report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling stated that the Treasury would "explore the potential benefits of alternative future models for the Royal Mint". A month later in his 2009 United Kingdom budget , he recommended that the mint be made a company with a view to it being sold. The recommendation
5763-562: The country's growing problems with counterfeiting. By this time, forgeries accounted for 10% of the country's coinage, clipping was commonplace and the value of the silver in coins had surpassed their face value . King William III initiated the Great Recoinage of 1696 whereby all coins were removed from circulation, and enacted the Coin Act 1696 , making it high treason to own or possess counterfeiting equipment. Satellite mints to aid in
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#17328526725945876-455: The crew, and bags of mail destined for the UK. The great depth of the wreck preserved the mail from the decaying effects of oxygen, light, and heat. However, being submerged in water for seven decades also made the mail very fragile. There were 717 letters: the largest amount of mail yet recovered from a shipwreck. It took four years to conserve them; stabilising them; reassembling letters that had fragmented; and transcribing their texts. The mail
5989-492: The danger posed to whale sharks by shipping activities in various regions, including Ecuador, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Oman, Seychelles, and Taiwan. See also, similar role:- Empire ship , Fort ship , Park ship , Ocean ship . Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom 's official maker of British coins . It is currently located in Llantrisant , Wales , where it moved in 1968. Operating under
6102-496: The delivery of dies. A specialist mint board was set up in 1472 to enact a 23 February indenture that vested the mint's responsibilities into three main roles: a warden , a master and comptroller . In the early 16th century, mainland Europe was in the middle of an economic expansion , but England was suffering from financial difficulties brought on by excessive government spending. By the 1540s, wars with France and Scotland led Henry VIII to enact The Great Debasement , which saw
6215-576: The first gold ETF backed 100% by the London Bullion Market Association responsible sourcing programme. Investors can also convert RMAU into coins and gold bars. The Royal Mint partnered with white label ETF firm HANetf. As the sole body responsible for minting legal tender coins in the United Kingdom under contract from HM Treasury , the mint produces all of the country's physical currency apart from banknotes which are printed by
6328-588: The gold standard in 1931. The Bombay Mint sovereign was the £1 coin. From 1928, the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) issued its own coins . The Royal Mint produced these until Ireland established its own Currency Centre in Dublin in 1978. During World War II, the Mint was important in ensuring people were paid for their services with hard currency rather than banknotes. Under Operation Bernhard ,
6441-415: The gold. In 1859, the Royal Mint rejected a batch of gold found to be too brittle for the minting of gold sovereigns. Analysis revealed the presence of small amounts of antimony , arsenic and lead . With Ansell's background in chemistry , he persuaded the Royal Mint to allow him to experiment with the alloy , and was ultimately able to produce 167,539 gold sovereigns . On a second occasion in 1868, it
6554-514: The goods carried aboard the ship for hire, while "freight" refers to the act of carrying of such cargo, but the terms have been used interchangeably for centuries. Generally, the modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes: Larger cargo ships are generally operated by shipping lines : companies that specialize in the handling of cargo in general. Smaller vessels, such as coasters , are often owned by their operators. Cargo ships/freighters can be divided into eight groups, according to
6667-432: The introduction of electricity and demand continued to grow, the rebuilding process continued so that by the 1960s, little of the original mint remained, apart from Smirke's 1809 building and its gatehouses at the front. On 1 March 1966, the government announced plans to decimalise the nation's currency, thereby requiring the withdrawal of millions of coins and the re-minting of new ones. At its current site on Tower Hill,
6780-446: The keel, but the radio officer was swept away. Ayres and the deck hand reached the shore. The deck hand got onto a rock, but a wave swept him off and he was killed. A group of three evacuee schoolgirls was walking on the clifftop and saw the incident. One of the girls ran down to the beach, while another alerted a local farmworker, Brian Richards, who was also a member of HM Coastguard . He arrived in time to pull Ayres unconscious from
6893-604: The lascars who were killed are commemorated on a roll of honour, one copy of which is held at Chittagong War Cemetery in Bangladesh , and the other at the Indian Seamen's Home at Mumbai in India . In November 1941 Ayres was made an MBE for his efforts to save his shipmates. Lloyd's of London awarded him Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea . He spent nine months on full pension to recover, and then returned to sea with BI. He later
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#17328526725947006-512: The last of whom was appointed Graver of Seals, Stamps, and Medals in 1643. When Prince Rupert took control of Oxford that same year, Bushell was ordered to move to Bristol Castle , where he continued minting coins until it fell to parliamentary control on 11 September 1645, effectively ending Bushell's involvement in the civil war mints. In November 1642, the king ordered royalist MP Richard Vyvyan to build one or more mints in Cornwall, where he
7119-425: The legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for the UK and international markets, The Royal Mint is a leading provider of precious metal products. The Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for
7232-697: The locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway . The earliest records of waterborne activity mention the carriage of items for trade; the evidence of history and archaeology shows the practice to be widespread by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, and as early as the 14th and 15th centuries BC small Mediterranean cargo ships like those of the 50 foot long (15–16 metre) Uluburun ship were carrying 20 tons of exotic cargo; 11 tons of raw copper, jars, glass, ivory, gold, spices, and treasures from Canaan , Greece , Egypt , and Africa . The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances, and throughout more seasons of
7345-586: The long voyages south of Cape of Good Hope or south of Cape Horn to transit between Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Lake freighters built for the Great Lakes in North America differ in design from sea water–going ships because of the difference in wave size and frequency in the lakes. A number of these ships are larger than Seawaymax and cannot leave the lakes and pass to the Atlantic Ocean, since they do not fit
7458-606: The mint announced plans for Royal Mint Gold (RMG), a digital gold currency that uses blockchain to trade and invest in gold . However, this project was cancelled in 2018. The Royal Mint, in February 2020, listed its first financial product: the Royal Mint Physical Gold Commodity Exchange-traded fund (ETF): RMAU. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse . RMAU is
7571-411: The mint became more profitable through heavy exports. In April 1990, the mint became an Executive Agency; however, by 2001, the mint had reported its first annual loss: a result attributed to only securing 5% of new Euro coin production rather than the projected 20%. Despite this, the mint began diversifying its product range by offering items outside its usual coin-related merchandise. Around this time,
7684-594: The mint closed on 30 June 1941 but was later reopened as the South African Mint . Although London's Royal Mint officially controlled just six mints, many more independent mints were set up in parts of the British Empire . At New Westminster in British Columbia , the British Columbia gold rushes led to a mint being established in 1862 by Francis George Claudet , under Governor James Douglas . It produced
7797-419: The mint had suffered from lack of space for many years, and it would be inadequate to meet the anticipated high demand a recoinage would entail. A possible move to a more suitable site had been discussed as far back as 1870, when Deputy Master of the Mint Charles Fremantle had recommended it in his first annual report. At the time, it had been suggested that the valuable land at Tower Hill could be sold to finance
7910-415: The mint was selling different types of jewellery, commemorative plates and figurines, eventually creating its own Royal Mint Classics range of collectible goods. This part of the business proved popular in attracting new customers, but it suffered from poor product development. Its products included a hip flask with an embedded £2 coin , an Edinburgh Crystal clock combined with a millennium Crown , and
8023-406: The mint's Bullion Office had purchased 14,000 troy ounces (440 kg) of unrefined gold in the preceding week alone, and the mint's overall coin output averaged over £1,000,000 yearly in its first five years of operation. In 1868, gold sovereigns minted in Sydney were made legal tender in all British colonies, and in February 1886 they were given equal status in the UK itself. The success of
8136-408: The mint's issues. In a letter to the Treasury dated 29 October 1856, Ansell was put forward as a candidate. He was appointed as a temporary clerk on 12 November 1856, with a salary of £120 per year. Upon taking office, Ansell discovered that the weighing of metals at the mint was extremely loose. At the mint, it had been the custom to weigh silver to the nearest 0.5 troy ounces (16 g) and gold to
8249-420: The minting of new silver coins. In September 2013 some of the silver was delivered to the Royal Mint, now based in Llantrisant , Wales , to be minted into coins. In April 2014 the Royal Mint announced that it would strike 20,000 commemorative 1/4 ounce coins from the silver, each with a face value of 50 pence, but priced at £30. Other artefacts that Odyssey recovered from Gairsoppa included artefacts used by
8362-424: The need to supply its coinage. This, along with the need for new mint machinery and cramped conditions within the Tower of London , led to plans for the mint to move to nearby East Smithfield . Construction started in 1805 of the new purpose-built mint on Tower Hill, opposite the Tower of London, and it was completed by 1809. In 1812, the move became official: the keys of the old mint were ceremoniously delivered to
8475-527: The new site over the next seven years, and the last coin, a gold sovereign, was struck in London in November 1975. After moving to Wales, the mint struggled to be profitable as the Western world fell into a deep recession during the early 1970s. To combat a rising national debt, the mint was established as a trading fund on 1 April 1975, which required it to become self-financing. This measure proved successful, and
8588-548: The newly established Canadian dollar . As Canada developed in 1890, calls were made for a mint to be built in Ottawa to facilitate the country's gold mines. The new mint was opened on 2 January 1908 by Lord Grey , producing coins for circulation, including Ottawa Mint sovereigns . In 1931, under the Statute of Westminster , the mint came under the control of the Government of Canada and
8701-399: The next 200 years, no coins appear to have been minted in Britain until the emergence of English kingdoms in the sixth and seventh centuries. By 650, as many as 30 mints are recorded across Britain. In 1279, the country's numerous mints were unified under a single system whereby control was centralised to the mint within the Tower of London . Mints outside London were reduced, with only
8814-538: The old hammering method. In 1656, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell ordered engraver Thomas Simon to cut a series of dies featuring his bust and for them to be minted using the new milled method. Few of Cromwell's coins entered circulation; Cromwell died in 1658 and the Commonwealth collapsed two years later. Without Cromwell's backing of milled coinage, Blondeau returned to France, leaving England to continue minting hammer-struck coins. In 1662, after previous attempts to introduce milled coinage into Britain had failed,
8927-482: The purchase of land at nearby Whitefriars and pay for a new mint building. However, after many years of subsequent debate in Parliament it had been decided that improvements could be made to the existing site at Tower Hill. With Decimal Day set for 1971, the government quickly decided where to establish the new mint. Over twenty sites were considered, including suggestions for Scotland and Northern Ireland; however,
9040-632: The recoinage were established in Bristol , Chester , Exeter , Norwich , and York , with returned coins being valued by weight, not face value . The Acts of Union 1707 united England and Scotland into one country, leading London to take over production of Scotland's currency and thus replacing Scotland's Pound Scots with the English Pound sterling . As a result, the Edinburgh mint closed on 4 August 1710. As Britain's empire continued to expand, so too did
9153-561: The refinery process be outsourced to an external agency, thereby removing the refining process from the mint's responsibilities. The opportunity to oversee the Mint's refinery was taken up by Anthony de Rothschild , a descendant of the Rothschild family and heir to the multinational investment banking company N M Rothschild & Sons . Rothschild secured a lease from the government in January 1852, purchasing equipment and premises adjacent to
9266-473: The restored monarch Charles II recalled Peter Blondeau to establish a permanent machine-made coinage. Despite the introduction of the newer, milled coins, like the old hammered coins they suffered heavily from counterfeiting and clipping . To combat this the text Decus et tutamen ("An ornament and a safeguard") was added to some coin rims. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when James II
9379-491: The royal capital of Oxford . The new Oxford mint was established on 15 December 1642 in New Inn Hall , the present site of St Peter's College . There, silver plates and foreign coins were melted down and, in some cases, just hammered into shape to produce coins quickly. Bushell was appointed the mint's warden and master-worker, and he laboured alongside notable engravers Nicholas Briot , Thomas Rawlins and Nicholas Burghers ,
9492-498: The sea. Ayres was carried to a local house, and then admitted to the cottage hospital at Helston . The bodies of the radio officer, deck hand, and two of the lascars were recovered, and are buried in the yard of St Wynwallow's Church, Landewednack . The 11 European officers and men who were killed are commemorated on panel 51 of the Second World War monument at Tower Hill Memorial in London . The Chinese carpenter and 69 of
9605-470: The seabed at a depth of nearly 4,700 metres (3 miles). The New York Times published on its website a video that Odyssey had made of the wreck. Odyssey stated that it believed the wreck held a total of about 240 tons of silver. In July 2012 it was reported that Odyssey had recovered 1,400,000 ounces (40 tonnes) of silver in 1,203 ingots, and landed them at Bristol in England. Odyssey was to keep 80 percent of
9718-504: The ship while it is in port. The process of removing sulphur from the fuel impacts the viscosity and lubricity of the marine gas oil though, which could cause damage in the engine fuel pump . The fuel viscosity can be raised by cooling the fuel down. If the various requirements are enforced, the International Maritime Organization 's marine fuel requirement will mean a 90% reduction in sulphur oxide emissions; whilst
9831-452: The small Welsh town of Llantrisant , ten miles (16 km) northwest of Cardiff , was eventually chosen. Work on the new mint began in August 1967 with the construction of a blank treatment plant and a plant for striking. This first phase of the mint was formally opened on 17 December 1968 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II , Prince Philip , and Prince Charles . There had been fears that
9944-593: The smaller shipping companies and private individuals operate tramp ships. Cargo liners run on fixed schedules published by the shipping companies. Each trip a liner takes is called a voyage. Liners mostly carry general cargo. However, some cargo liners may carry passengers also. A cargo liner that carries 12 or more passengers is called a combination or passenger-run-cargo line. Cargo ships are categorized partly by cargo or shipping capacity ( tonnage ), partly by weight ( deadweight tonnage DWT), and partly by dimensions. Maximum dimensions such as length and width ( beam ) limit
10057-533: The type of cargo they carry. These groups are: Specialized types of cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers (technically tankers of all sizes are cargo ships, although they are routinely thought of as a separate category). Cargo ships fall into two further categories that reflect the services they offer to industry: liner and tramp services. Those on a fixed published schedule and fixed tariff rates are cargo liners. Tramp ships do not have fixed schedules. Users charter them to haul loads. Generally,
10170-413: The value and 20 percent would go to HM Treasury . On 23 July 2013 it was reported that Odyssey had recovered a further 1,574 ingots, totalling almost 1,800,000 ounces (51 tonnes). This increased the cumulative total of silver salvaged to 110 tons: a record for both the amount of precious metal salvaged, and the depth from which it was raised. This represented 99 percent of the insured bullion that Gairsoppa
10283-775: The war many of the ships were sold to private companies. The Ever Given is a ship that was lodged into the Suez Canal from March 25 to 28, 2021, which caused a halt on maritime trade. The MV Dali , which collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore , Maryland , United States , on 26 March 2024, causing a catastrophic structural failure of the bridge that resulted in at least 6 deaths. Due to its low cost, most large cargo vessels are powered by bunker fuel , also known as heavy fuel oil, which contains higher sulphur levels than diesel. This level of pollution
10396-509: The world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade . Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built of welded steel , and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped. The words cargo and freight have become interchangeable in casual usage. Technically, "cargo" refers to
10509-563: The year, motivated improvements in ship design during the Middle Ages . Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of piracy resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes quite heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons and East Indiamen . They were also sometimes escorted by warships . Piracy is still quite common in some waters, particularly in the Malacca Straits ,
10622-621: Was a War Standard "B" type steamship: one of a set of designs ordered by the UK Shipping Controller in large numbers to replace merchant ships lost during the First World War . She was launched as War Roebuck , but renamed before she was completed. The British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) owned and managed her throughout her career. The ship was named after either the village of Gerusoppa in Karnataka , southern India, or
10735-409: Was again discovered that gold coins, this time totalling £500,000 worth, were being produced with inferior gold. Although the standard practice at the mint was for rejected coins (known as brockages) to be melted down, many entered general circulation, and the mint was forced to return thousands of ounces of gold to the Bank of England . Although Ansell offered to re-melt the substandard coins, his offer
10848-619: Was awarded to construction firm ISG and design consultant Mather & Co. , who had previously designed the Norwegian Olympic Museum , as well as a handful of visitor attractions for sports clubs including Chelsea F.C. , Manchester City F.C. , FC Porto , and the Springboks . To fund the development, a grant of £2.3 million was provided by the Welsh Government towards the attraction which aimed to attract 200,000 visitors
10961-516: Was building a new plant in South Wales to recover precious metals from electronic waste . The first of this sustainably sourced gold is already being used in a new jewellery division – 886 by The Royal Mint – named in celebration of its symbolic founding date. The history of coins in Great Britain can be traced back to the second century BC when they were introduced by Celtic tribes from across
11074-421: Was carrying. Lloyd's record of war losses suggests that other Government-owned silver, uninsured, may have been aboard the ship. However, Odyssey stated that it had not found any of the uninsured silver. Correspondence between the Royal Mint and the Bank of England in 1941, after Gairsoppa was sunk, reveals that it was feared that they were within two months of running out of silver, and might have to suspend
11187-458: Was estimated that 2.4 billion coins were minted for overseas countries, exceeding domestic coinage production and providing over 60% of the mint's revenue from circulating currencies. In 2024, it announced that due to the decline in cash use globally, it will cease its overseas coin production. The Royal Mint remains fully committed to making UK coins, which has been at the heart of The Royal Mint for 1,100 years. Declining cash use has been
11300-482: Was in the Western Approaches at 50°00′N 14°0′W / 50.000°N 14.000°W / 50.000; -14.000 , about 300 nautical miles (560 km) southwest of Galway Bay. The boats became separated in the heavy sea. Two of the boats, and their occupants, were never seen again. The other boat, commanded by Second Officer Richard Ayres, contained eight European and 23 lascar crew. Ayres used
11413-454: Was instructed to mint coins from whatever bullion could be obtained and deliver them to Ralph Hopton , a commander of royalist troops in the region. Vyvyan built a mint in Truro and was its Master until 1646, when it was captured by parliamentarians . In December 1642, the parliamentarians set up a mint in nearby Exeter , which had been under parliamentary control since the beginning of the war and
11526-483: Was launched as War Roebuck on 12 August 1919, renamed Gairsoppa , and completed on 17 October that year. Her lengths were 412.0 ft (125.6 m) overall and 399.3 ft (121.7 m) registered. Her beam was 52.2 ft (15.9 m), her depth was 28.5 ft (8.7 m), and her draught was 25 ft 3 in (7.70 m). Her tonnages were 5,237 GRT , 3,227 NRT , and 8,150 DWT . She had berths for four passengers. Gairsoppa had
11639-459: Was met with outrage by unions and opposition parties in parliament, who called it the "selling off the family silver" and said it would result in job losses. In contrast, the chief executive of the mint, Andrew Stafford, welcomed the proposal, saying that it would lead to further growth and secure the future of the business. On 31 December 2009, rather than being fully privatised, the mint ceased to be an executive agency and its assets were vested in
11752-437: Was off by 960 grains . To increase the accuracy of weights, more precise weighing equipment was ordered, and the tolerance was revised to 0.10 oz for silver and 0.01 oz for gold. Between 1856 and 1866, the old scales were gradually removed and replaced with scales made by Messrs. De Grave, Short, and Fanner; winners of an 1862 International Exhibition prize award for work relating to balances . Ansell also noticed
11865-460: Was ousted from power, parliament took over control of the mint from the Crown , which had until then allowed the mint to act as an independent body producing coins on behalf of the government. Under the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax , Isaac Newton became the mint's warden in 1696. His role, intended to be a sinecure , was taken seriously by Newton, who went about trying to combat
11978-661: Was promoted to Captain, joined the Royal Naval Reserve , and then became a BI cargo superintendent, first in India and later in Malaya . He retired in 1964, and died in 1992. In 1989 the UK government invited tenders to salvage Gairsoppa ' s silver bullion. Deepwater Recovery and Exploration Ltd submitted the only bid received. In 2011 the Government awarded a contract to a US company, Odyssey Marine Exploration , to find and salvage
12091-695: Was protected by a boundary wall patrolled by the Royal Mint's military guard. By 1856, the mint was beginning to prove inefficient: there were irregularities in minted coins' fineness and weight. Instructed by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston , the Master of the Mint Thomas Graham was informed that unless the mint could raise its standards and become more economical, it would be broken up and placed under management by contractors. Graham sought advice from German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann , who in turn recommended his student George Frederick Ansell to resolve
12204-471: Was rejected, causing a row between him and senior mint chiefs, which ultimately led to him being removed from his position at the mint. After the high-level practice as deputy engraver in the Royal Mint, Charles Wiener went then to Lisbon in 1864 as chief engraver to the Mint of Portugal. In 1863 he made a commemorative medal for Prince Albert (1819-1861), consort of Queen Victoria. (Victoria and Albert Museum). After relocating to its new home on Tower Hill,
12317-552: Was restored by two conservators at AOC Archaeology in Edinburgh and two at the Postal Museum, London . In 2018 the museum displayed some of the mail and other artefacts in an exhibition called "Voices from the Deep". Cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo , goods , and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply
12430-450: Was set up at Pinewood Studios , Buckinghamshire , which had been requisitioned for the war effort. Staff and machinery from Tower Hill were moved to the site, which started production in June 1941 and operated for the duration of the war. Over the course of the war, the Royal Mint was hit on several occasions, and at one point was put out of commission for three weeks. As technology changed with
12543-624: Was sold to Jardine Matheson in 1868, and the mint machinery was sold to the Japanese Mint in Osaka . In 1914, as war broke out in Europe, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George instructed that gold coins be removed from circulation to help pay for the war effort. The government started to issue £1 and 10-shilling Treasury notes as replacements, paving the way for Britain to leave
12656-649: Was subsequently renamed the Royal Canadian Mint . A fifth branch of the Royal Mint was established in Mumbai (Bombay), India on 21 December 1917 as part of a wartime effort. It struck sovereigns from 15 August 1918 until 22 April 1919 but closed in May 1919. A sixth and final overseas mint was established in the Union of South Africa in Pretoria on 1 January 1923, producing £83,114,575 worth of sovereigns in its lifetime. As South Africa began cutting ties with Britain,
12769-532: Was under constant threat of attack by loyalist troops. In September 1643, the town was captured by the Cornish Royalist Army led by Prince Maurice , leading Vyvyan to move his nearby mint in Truro to the captured town. The exact location of the mint in Exeter is unknown; however, maps from the time show a street named Old Mint Lane near Friernhay, which was to be the site of a 1696 Recoinage mint. Much less
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