Coin under the mast

Pay the ferryman and have fair winds.

The ancient Greek already had the practise of placing coins under the mast of their sailing vessels. The Romans copied this and through the ages the custom remained and spread to all sailing cultures.

History

Historians believe this tradition is connected to the funeral practice of laying coins on the eyes of the dead. These coins are to pay the ferryman for the crossing of the river Styx into the afterlife. Because sailors regularly lost their lives at sea, and entire ships disappearing beneath the waves was, and is still, not an unusual occurrence. The placing of a coin under the mast was to be a payment for the whole crew to pass into the afterlife.

Current

Even with the graduate change of belief systems, the custom of placing a coin under the mast remained. Sailors were and are a superstitious bunch whom take comfort in traditions. The meaning of the coin changed, to be that of a token of good luck. To pay for fair winds and calm seas.

Ceremony

Usually a small ceremony, or event. Is organised around the placing of the coin. This can be before or after the launch of the ship, even before or after the Baptism of a Ship. There are no rules or guidelines on how such a ceremony is performed, and it's left up to the crew, owner, and/or builder to decide that on their own.

On a sailing ship, the coin is usually placed under the mainmast. Sometimes a special indent is carved into the mast step for the coin. Other times it's secured to the side of the keel frame, near the base of the mast.
On not-sailing ships, sometimes the coin is placed on the keel somewhere. Other times, it's placed under or near the base of the mast that carries the lights, antennas and (signal) flags, which can be considered the main mast.

On cruise ships, the coin might be placed in a place visible to the guests, so they can enjoy the tradition. And take a selfie with it.

Special coins

One of the customs is to use a coin that is minted in the year the ship is launched. But other customs exist too. It can be a coin from the year of significance to the owner. For example, if the ship is named after a person, it can be from their year of birth. Or a navy can use a coin that was minted in the year of a famous battle, or of the launch date of the first ship that had carried that name, if a name is re-used.

Sometimes coins are specially minted to be used for this purpose, larger in size, with special inscriptions. But this is an expensive practice that is only used on rare occasions.

Contrary to what you might think, it does not matter what kind of coin is placed under the mast, historians have found simple copper coins, silver coins as well as gold coins. Nowadays coins from the currency that is in use in the nation the ship is build in or for, are generally used, sometimes versions of coins of previous currencies are used.

Wrecks

Some treasure hunters, (sometimes possing as archeologists) will remove the coins from wrecks they explore on the sea floor. But every sailor knows this will result in severe bad luck.

Some people have even coined the idea to re-use a coin from an old ship to a new ship. But that coin is already used, already accepted as payment by the ferryman. If a ship were to reuse a coin, that ships crew will walk with one leg in the afterlife and any day the ferryman might come and claim their soul.

Gold Coin by OpenClipart-Vectors via Pixabay

Building the new ship; Red Sunrise

Jan de Jongh and Marshmallow were discussing whether or not they needed to place a coin under the mast of their new Pirate ship, and if so what kind of coin. When they were interrupted by Jack.

Jack had still managed to hold on to one gold coin of the treasure the pirate crew scored before Rose even joined their crew.

A quick vote is held among the crew and unsuprisingly it was unanmously decided that Jack's coin is to be placed under the mainmast of the Red Sunrise

The mizzen was already placed when the crew gathered in the lower hold, the dockyard workers had the main mast in the crane, and slowely lowered it trough the decks to meet the mast step on the keel. As it was Jack's coin, he was the one to place the coin into the mast step just before the main mast of the Red Sunrise landed there.

"For good hunting with favourable wind and smooth seas".

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