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Coins found under HMS Victory mast reveal hidden maritime tradition
22 May 2026
Six 19th-century coins and tokens have been discovered beneath the foremast of HMS Victory during the latest stage of the ship’s major conservation programme, HMS Victory: The Big Repair.
The find was made following the successful removal of Victory’s foremast at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, part of the £42m project to conserve Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship for future generations.
The discovery connects directly to a long-standing maritime tradition in which coins were placed beneath a ship’s mast as a symbolic act, often intended to bring good fortune to the vessel and her crew.
The team has now been able to identify the six finds as:
- 1892 one penny, Queen Victoria “bun head” portrait
- 1890 one penny, Queen Victoria “bun head” portrait farthing, dated 1882
- 1890 one penny, Queen Victoria “bun head” portrait
- 1890 halfpenny, Queen Victoria “bun head” portrait
- 1835 Prince Edward Island “Ships, Colonies and Commerce” token - Issued in what is now Canada.
The placing of coins beneath a ship’s mast has long been seen as a symbolic act, often associated with protection and good fortune for the vessel and her crew
Andrew Baines, Executive Director of Museum Operations at Royal Navy Museums, said: “We are incredibly excited to have discovered six coins beneath the fore lower mast of HMS Victory. This find connects us directly to a maritime tradition stretching back thousands of years.
“The placing of coins beneath a ship’s mast has long been seen as a symbolic act, often associated with protection and good fortune for the vessel and her crew. Following the earlier discovery of a single farthing beneath the main lower mast, we had hoped there might be something similar beneath the foremast. But to uncover six coins was an extraordinary surprise”
The coins have endured extreme conditions. For 132 years, they sat beneath the fore lower mast, bearing the weight of approximately 50 tonnes of masts, yards and rigging above them.
Prolonged pressure and corrosion left them heavily degraded and difficult to identify. The coins were cleaned and x-rayed so they could be identified.
The discovery follows the earlier find of a single farthing beneath Victory’s main lower mast in 2021. Together, the finds suggest that the placement of coins beneath the ship’s masts formed part of the work carried out when Victory’s nineteenth-century masts were installed.
The six newly-discovered coins and token, together with the earlier coin discovered beneath Victory’s main lower mast, are now on display in the Victory Gallery at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.