The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
The ill-fated journey of a well-known ship
Mary Celeste was not the first reported case of a ship found deserted on the high seas. There were others. But it is the Mary Celeste, which is most remembered.
The ship was built in late 1860 at the shipyard in the village of Spencer’s Island, in Nova Scotia, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. They constructed the ship of locally felled timber. She was launched on May 18, 1861, and given the name Amazon. A local consortium of nine people owned her; among the co-owners was Robert McLellan, the ship’s first captain.
For her maiden voyage, Amazon sailed to Five Islands, Nova Scotia, to take on cargo for passage to London. After he supervised the ship’s loading, Captain McLellan became ill. The captain’s condition worsened, and Amazon returned to Spencer’s Island, where he died on June 19.
John Nutting Parker became the new captain and resumed the voyage to London, during which Amazon was met with yet more misadventures. She collided with fishing equipment off Eastport, Maine. After leaving London, Amazon ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel.
