October 6th. 2000.
October 6th 2000
Next club meeting Monday 6th November 2000.
Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.
October meeting.
This was a talk by a long time friend of the club, Peter Clayton, called 'Clear for Action - the Numismatics of Three Great naval Battles'. The three battles in question were at Actium in 31 BC, Lepanto in 1571 and the Battle of the Nile in Aboukir Bay in 1798, each in their own way a turning point in history.
The first battle was between the Roman Emperor Octavian and the star-crossed lovers, Mark Antony and the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. Few details are known of the battle for certain, though it is clear that some time into the battle, Cleopatra led some 60 ships through Octavian's line and fled south, for Egypt. Antony moved his flag to a different ship and followed after her. At this point Octavian's fleet, under the leadership of Admiral Agrippa fell on the remainder of Antony's fleet, leading to its almost total destruction. The event was commemorated by the issue of several coins showing Egypt, symbolically, as a crocodile, chained to a tree. Within a year, Octavian had conquered Egypt and both Antony and Cleopatra were dead.
The second battle was between the Ottoman Empire led by Ali Pasha and the Christians led by Don Juan of Austria, for Pope Pius V. This was the last great galley battle, with ships powered by oarsmen. The Turkish ships used Christian slaves for their oarsmen, while the Christian ships were powered by volunteers and trained seamen. The battle was a total victory for the Christian side, with more than three hundred of the 350 Turkish ships captured or sunk and the majority of the 75,000 Turkish side killed, and of order 10,000 slaves freed. It was also a portentous victory in that it disproved the myth that the Ottoman Empire was unbeatable, and marked the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the start of a change in the World Order.
The third battle was between the French and the English. The French invaded Egypt, partly for territorial gains, partly to threaten England's route to India and partly from politics, to keep the young Napoleon busy. The battle might have ended very differently, were it not for the weather, since the two fleets passed each other in the Mediterranean some time before without being able to see each other and it is likely that Nelson would have lost if the engagement took place then. In the event the French set up their ships in a line across Aboukir bay, with their guns pointing seawards, so that the English would have to run along the line, a tactic that had worked well in previous battles for the French Admiral Brueys. However, they were too far from the shore and some of Nelson's ships were able to get behind the French line, sandwiching them. In particular, they concentrated on the French flagship, L'Orient, which finally blew up in an explosion that was heard 20 miles away and caused a half hour's break in the battle. Captain's medals were struck in gold and officer's medals in silver, though the ordinary ratings were not able to apply for any medals (in bronze) till 1848, some 50 years after the battle.
Peter illustrated his talk with many slides showing the coins associated with these battles and had also brought along some of the coins and medals with him. Thank you very much to Peter for an interesting and illuminating talk.
There were five dealer tables open and nineteen members and guests attended.
British Museum Open Day
Reading Coin club will be presenting a display at the British Museum's Open Day on Wednesday, October 25th, in Room 68 the HSBC Money Gallery. Please try and get along to the museum between 11am and 4pm to support the club.
Raffle
The committee has decided to continue with the raffle at each meeting, with a prize of £10 to be spent against the purchase of a coin from any of the dealer's tables at the club. John has kindly agreed to run it. Thank you John.
Book Donation
Will has kindly donated some books to the club. Will is moving shortly into a smaller house and has not got the space. The following books will be added to the library at the next meeting:
There are several other books, which will either end up in the library, or be included in the Annual Club Auction in January 2001. This neatly leads me on to the auction. Time is getting on and I hope that you are all looking out some bits and pieces for auction. This is a very important part of the club year and an essential part of fund raising for the club, if we are to break even over the course of the year. Please hand your lots to a committee member at either the November or December meeting of the club.
BANS.
John will be representing Reading Coin Club at this years BANS meeting on the 4th November.
Future Events.
The London Coin Fair. Saturday 4th November Cumberland Hotel Marble Arch London W1.
Coin Fair. Saturday 21st November. Commonwealth Institute. Kensington. London W8.
20 Years ago.
The speaker was Albert (sadly no longer a member) whose subject was Medals of the Royal Berks
A raffle was held, which raised £4-80 for club funds - there's nothing new!