In 1820, in response to a request from the British colony of Mauritius, the imperial government in London struck silver coins in the denominations of 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 dollars. The dollar unit in question was equivalent to the Spanish dollar and these fractional coins were known as 'Anchor Dollars' because of the anchor that appeared on them. More of these anchor dollars were struck in 1822 and not only for Mauritius but also for the British West Indies.