Commodore Martin Rivadavia, realizing the necessity that our Navy should depend on an appropriate school boat of the era, strived for the incorporation that for four decades was the boat of instruction for the cadets in their last year at the Argentine Naval Military School.

Built in Great Britain, the launching of the "Sarmiento" took place on August 31, 1897.  Beginning in 1899 and Rivadavia being one of the first naval ministers in our history, the frigate sailed with our future marine officers through the seas of the world until 1939, on which the cadets of the mentioned school, the students of the Military Naval School, and the students of the Apprentice, Sailor and Sea Rope School were destined to serve.  In such a way, it plowed the seas of our maritime and river coasts and sailed to nearby countries until it was converted to a museum in 1961.

Declared in 1962 as a national historical monument, the frigate A.R.A. President Sarmiento was in two occasions the inspiration for the design of two numismatic pieces:  the 1000 peso note that was issued between 1944 and 1970, which reproduces the painting of its majestic engraving that was carried out by navel Captain and artist Hugo Legan, and the five peso coin minted between 1961 and 1968 that carries an image of the boat taken from another position.

As witness of the circulation of said means of payment, we remember that the mentioned note received the popular name of "frigate", and it was for almost twenty years the highest denomination banknote in circulation and synonymous of our riches, so much that the five peso coin was needed for much of the second half of the '60's because it was the only coin that worked in public telephones.

As part of the celebration of the naval history centennial -- presently it is tied up in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires -- the Argentine Central Bank of the Republic set up on board the ship a numismatic exposition from November 7-30, 1997.  On the same ship there were also exhibited commemorative medallions of events in which the ship participated in foreign countries; banknotes and coins with images of famous personalities who visited the centennial ship, and Argentina and foreign numismatic pieces with Sarmiento themes on the ship that carries his name and ships in general.

Source:  Centro Numismatico de Buenos Aires, El Telegrafo Ano 2, numero 9 Dic., 1997.

Courtesy:  Carlos A. Graziadio