Below info from USS Leahy 1993 De-Commissioning booklet...
The ancient custom of placing coins under the step of a mast when building a vessel
dates from antiquity. This is a very old superstition, possibly a survival of the old Roman custom of placing coins
in the mouths of the dead to pay their way to Charon for transportation across the river Styx. If a ship met with
mishap at sea, this ensured the way of all aboard was paid.
Leahy's mast was most recently stepped with 3 silver dollars on December 4. 1987 when a new forward mast was put
in place during the New Threat Upgrade overhaul. BM3 Patrick W. Howlett (then SR Howlett), the youngest crewmember
aboard, placed the coins under the mast in a traditional ceremony in Long Beach Naval Shipyard. One coin is dated
1875, the year of FADM Leahy's birth. One is dated 1987, the year the new mast was put in place. The significance
of the third, dated 1972, is unknown. These three coins are on display in the reception area.
A great story from LCDR Jaszkowski about the coins placed under Leahy’s forward mast:
When we were decommissioning the ship, it was important to me to recover the coins from under the mast for posterity
and as a significant piece of the ship’s history. I asked the HT’s to get a torch and go looking for them. They
did and reported back from time to time that they were not having any luck. I didn’t go look, but they reported
that they cut a number of holes and groped around for the coins with no luck. We were pretty certain that they
were there, we just didn’t know where. FCCS Ridgel was on his second tour aboard Leahy and knew that coins had
been placed at the step of the mast when the new mast was set in place as part of the New Threat Upgrade. Apparently
the new 48E radar was much heavier than the original and required a portion of the foremast to be replaced by a
beefier one. However, after considerable search, we were coming up empty handed.
As part of decommissioning, all sorts of things turn up as lockers and storage compartments are cleaned out. At
one point a scrapbook came across my desk with various newspaper articles in it. One caught my attention immediately.
It was a photo and story about the ceremony in which coins were put at the step of the mast during the New Treat
Upgrade yard period. The news story contained a photo and the names of the people involved. It gave the name and
hometown of the sailor who was selected to have the honor to place the coins. The article said he was selected
because he was the youngest sailor onboard.
With this scant lead I called directory assistance for the town listed as the sailor’s hometown. Remember this
was pre-internet and research was not possible on the level it is today. The hometown was a small town somewhere
in the upper mid-west. Michigan, Wisconsin, something like that. There was a family in that town with the same
last name, so I placed a call. I introduced myself and said that I was looking for a person of the same last name
who was a sailor on USS Leahy. As luck would have it, the voice on the line said that he knew who I was talking
about. No it wasn’t him, but his son. Then he offered, he doesn’t live here anymore, but he is visiting home right
now from out of state, would you like to talk to him?
We had a short conversation wherein he told me about the ceremony and that there were three coins. One had been
placed there when the ship was commissioned. It had been removed and saved to put back when the new mast was ready
to go in. He said that a second coin was added at that time. Then he said that the Master Chief of the command
(that predated the Command Master Chief Program I believe) whipped out a coin and added a third from his pocket
and they were sealed in.
He then told me where to look. I got a couple of the HT’s on the line that had been digging around up there to
talk to him. After hanging up the HT’s headed up to look for the coins and it seemed in no time they returned with
all three coins. They said that they made one cut and reached in and the coins were there.
I never knew for sure but assumed the 1875 silver trade dollar was the original. FADM Leahy was born in the year
it was minted. One coin was from 1987, and I assumed that was from the year the NTU mast was set and the coins
re-placed. The third coin is an Eisenhower from 1972 and I assumed that was the one the Master Chief added.
Info provided by CDR Mark Jaszkowski, USN (Ret.) - (USS Leahy's last CO) |