Mary Celeste was a Canadian built, American-registered merchant brigantine that was discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 4, 1872. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition under partial sail and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and was still amply provisioned when found. Her cargo of alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.
A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a vessel with no living crew aboard; it may be a fictional ghostly vessel, such as the Flying Dutchman, or a physical derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead, like the Mary Celeste. The term is sometimes used for ships that have been decommissioned but not yet scrapped, as well as drifting boats that have been found after breaking loose of their ropes and being carried away by the wind or the waves.
Benjamin Spooner Briggs was an experienced American seaman and master mariner. He was the captain of the merchant ship Mary Celeste, which was discovered unmanned and drifting in the Atlantic Ocean midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal on December 4, 1872. The lifeboat was missing, yet the Mary Celeste was still under sail. Briggs, his wife Sarah and their two-year-old daughter Sophia Matilda were never found and were presumed lost, along with the crew of Mary Celeste.
Digby is an incorporated town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is in the historical county of Digby and a separate municipality from the Municipality of the District of Digby. The town is situated on the western shore of the Annapolis Basin near the entrance to the Digby Gut, which connects the basin to the Bay of Fundy.
SS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line, and second ship of the Oceanic-class. The ship operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States. During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, she struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean until the sinking of SS La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898 and the greatest disaster for the White Star Line prior to the loss of Titanic in April 1912.
Bear River is a community situated at the head of the tidewaters of the Bear River. The river itself is the border between the Annapolis and Digby counties of Nova Scotia and thus, splits the community so that half the community is in Annapolis County and the other half in Digby County.
Sir John Sherbrooke was a successful and famous Nova Scotian privateer brig during the War of 1812, the largest privateer from Atlantic Canada during the war. In addition to preying on American merchant ships, she also defended Nova Scotian waters during the war. After her conversion to a merchantman she fell prey to an American privateer in 1814. She was burnt to prevent her reuse.
"J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" is an 1884 short story by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is in the form of a first-person testimony by a survivor of the Marie Celeste, a fictionalised version of the Mary Celeste, a ship found mysteriously abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. Doyle's story was published anonymously in the January 1884 issue of The Cornhill Magazine.
The CSS Tallahassee was a twin-screw steamer and cruiser in the Confederate States Navy, purchased in 1864, and used for commerce raiding off the Atlantic coast. She later operated under the names CSS Olustee and CSS Chameleon.
HMCS Regina was a Royal Canadian Navy revised Flower-class corvette which took part in convoy escort duties during the Second World War. She fought primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Regina, Saskatchewan.
SS Foundation Franklin was a seagoing salvage tug built for the Royal Navy as HMS Frisky in 1918. In 1924, the tugboat was sold and renamed Gustavo Ipland before being acquired in 1930 by Foundation Maritime and renamed Foundation Franklin. The tugboat became famous for many daring salvage operations and rescues between 1930 and 1949. Her many rescues and salvage triumphs were celebrated in Farley Mowat's book The Grey Seas Under. In 1948, the ship was damaged in a hurricane and not considered repairable. The tug was broken up for scrap in 1949 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
HMCS Halifax was a Royal Canadian Navy revised Flower-class corvette which took part in convoy escort duties during the Second World War. She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Halifax, Nova Scotia.
SSMont-Blanc was a cargo steamship that was built in Middlesbrough, England in 1899 for a French shipping company. On Thursday morning, December 6, 1917, she entered Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada laden with a full cargo of highly volatile explosives. As she made her way through the Narrows towards Bedford Basin, she was involved in a collision with Imo, a Norwegian ship. A fire aboard the French ship ignited her cargo of wet and dry 2,300 tons of picric acid, 500 tons of TNT, and 10 tons of guncotton. The resultant Halifax Explosion killed approximately 2,000 people and injured about 9,000.
Sir James Cochrane, was Chief Justice of Gibraltar. One of the most notable cases he handled was the enquiry into the Mary Celeste. Judge's Cave in Gibraltar is named for him.
USS Rogday (ID-3538) was a United States Navy icebreaker and cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919.
Point Chebucto is a harbour tug that was built at the Halifax Shipyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1992. She is one of very few harbour tugs that were built at the Halifax Shipyards. She has been aiding ships in and out of Halifax Harbour and later Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia since she was registered in January 1993. The tug was built for Eastern Canada Towing Limited, a company that has been around for over 60 years. The tug is named after the point at Chebucto Head, continuing the tradition of Eastern Canada Towing of naming its tugs after points. Eastern Canada Towing took over Foundation Maritime's work in the field of Harbour, Coastal and Deep-Sea tow and salvage. The firm owns and operate a fleet of modern tugs ranging from 1250 HP - 5400 HP. Most tugs are ice strengthened, with several having Ice Class 1 certification. Their head office is also in Halifax. Eastern Canada Towing was purchased in 2007 by Svitzer, a tug boat division of Maersk.
Maid of England was a sailing barquentine built in Gross Coques, Digby County, Nova Scotia in 1919 by Omer Blinn. Maid of England was the last square-rigged cargo vessel built in Maritime provinces of Canada. Maid of England was owned by F.K. Warren for nine years, and then later abandoned at sea in 1928.
Charles Mary Wentworth was a privateer ship built in 1798 by local investors in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, the first privateer ship from British North America in the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was named after Charles Mary Wentworth, the son of then governor of Nova Scotia, Sir John Wentworth. The ship Charles Mary Wentworth launched privateering in Nova Scotia during the Napoleonic Wars. Her success in capturing 11 valuable ships in her short two-year career led to the commissioning of a dozen other privateer ships from Nova Scotia.
Lucy Anne (Rogers) Butler, also known as Annie H. (Rogers) Butler, was a writer and social justice advocate. Her personal diary, which chronicled her travels with Captain John Kendrick Butler during the early years of their marriage, documents the lifestyle of Canadian mariners and their wives and widows during the mid to late 19th century.
Bywell Castle was a passenger and cargo ship that was built in 1869 by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow, County Durham. She was involved in the Princess Alice Disaster in September 1878 in which more than 600 people died. She disappeared in February 1883 whilst on a voyage from Alexandria, Egypt to Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Canada
