Commems Collection Classic: 1936 Delaware Tercentenary - A Few Nautical Tidbits

Here are a few facts about the Kalmar Nyckel - the ship depicted on the reverse of the Delaware half dollar - that aren't typically included in discussions about the coin in standard coin references:

1936 Landing of the Swedes in Delaware Tercentenary Half Dollar


1. The three-masted Kalmar Nyckel was ~100 feet long (at its deck) - ~90 feet at its waterline - and displaced ~300 tons.

2. The Kalmar Nyckel - was built by the Dutch (not Swedish) circa 1625; it was of a common pinnace design. The ship was originally configured as a small warship/armed escort but its design was flexible enough for it later to be reconfigured as a colonial ship.

3. The Swedish Government, via funds raised by the City of Kalmar, purchased the ship from the Dutch in 1629. Its Dutch name was Sleutel which is Dutch for "key." After its purchase/transfer, it was renamed Nyckel, which means "key" in Swedish and then had Kalmar added to its name to distinguish it from other Swedish ships named Nyckel and to connect it with its financial benefactor.

4. The 1936 Delaware half dollar marks the 300th anniversary of the first voyage of the Kalmar Nyckel from Sweden to the New World in 1638. The ship, however, also made similar trips in 1640, 1641 and 1644. The trips were sponsored/administered by the New Sweden Company. Admiral Klas Larsson Fleming recommended the Kalmar Nyckel for the initial colonial voyage and was a sponsor/investor in the 1638 expedition.

5. After its fourth trans-Atlantic voyage, the ship was commissioned into the Swedish Navy and outfitted for battle; war had broken out between Sweden and Denmark while the Kalmar Nyckel was sailing the Atlantic on its return to Sweden; the war caused multiple merchant ships to be put into military service - the war was fought between 1643 and 1645.

6. The potential for the ship to make a fifth voyage to the New Sweden colony was explored, but after it was determined that it had been too badly damaged during the war to safely make such a voyage, the ship was decommissioned in 1651 and sold to Cornelius Rolofsson for use as a merchant ship. It was renamed Kalmar Sleutel.

The ship was refitted with 24 cannons and leased to the Dutch Navy in 1652. It was sunk in July of the same year during a battle with the British Navy off the coast of Scotland in the Battle of Buchan Ness.

7. Jan Hindricksen van der Water was the captain of the Kalmar Nyckel on its 1638 voyage to the New World. He was lost/died at St. Kitts during the return trip after the expedition was caught in a hurricane. Michel Symonssen, the Kalmar Nyckel's First Mate, took over for van der Walter and eventually returned the Kalmar Nyckel to Gothenburg, Sweden.

And there you have it, a few historical tidbits about the sailing ship seen on the Delaware Tercentenary half dollar.


For more of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including many others about the Delaware half dollar, see: Commems Collection.