|
By Bret Evans
HMCS Sackville, a former Royal Canadian corvette – now a floating museum – is the theme of the January 2010 silver dollar.
Construction of Sackville started in New Brunswick in 1940. It was just the second in a long line of corvettes ordered for the Royal Canadian Navy.
She entered service in 1941.
On her first trip, the captain was relieved by the first officer, who claimed the skipper was abusive and unable to discharge his duties.
Although the captain was discharged, the Navy needed to send a message. The crew was dispersed to several different ships, and a new crew was drafted to Sackville.
Eventually, the vessel was assigned to convoy duty.
While serving in convoys, HMCS Sackville attacked three U-boats.
During maintenance, it was determined that Sackville had boiler problems that could not easily be repaired. The ship was reassigned to training duties, then modified for laying submarine detection cables, and finally placed in reserve and mothballed in 1946.
In 1952, Sackville was reactivated and converted into a research vessel for the federal Department of Marine and Fisheries. She was retired from this function in 1982, and acquired by the Canadian Corvette Trust. At this time it was the sole survivor among more than 200 corvettes built worldwide.
Today, Sackville has been restored to her wartime appearance and is a floating museum at Halifax.
Designed by Yves Berube, the silver dollar shows Sackville at sea, with her pennant number, K-181, clearly visible. To the right are the dual dates 1910 and 2010.
In a feature reminiscent of the wartime 5-cent pieces, the Navy's motto "Ready Aye Ready," is written around the outside of the design in both English and French using the dots and dashes of Morse code.
The sterling silver coin has a diameter of 36.07 millimetres and a weight of 25.175 grams.
It is included in the 2010 Proof Mint Set, which has a mintage of 55,000.
The coins in the sets have selective gold plating along the rim of both the obverse and reverse, as well as in the ocean below Sackville. It is the third consecutive set to have gold plating for the silver dollar. Only the silver dollars contained in the sets feature gold plating.
The single coins are available with a Proof finish, with a mintage of 50,000, and Brilliant Uncirculated, with 30,000 struck.
January 19 to February 1, 2010 issue of Canadian Coin News
| 
