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.
HMS Galatea was a fifth-rate 32-gun sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy that George Parsons built at Bursledon and launched in 1794. Before she was broken up in 1809 she captured numerous prizes and participated in a number of actions, first in the Channel and off Ireland (1794–1803), and then in the Caribbean (1802–1809), including one that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal.
Marco Polo was a three-masted wooden clipper ship, launched in 1851 at Saint John, New Brunswick. She was named after Venetian traveler Marco Polo. The ship carried emigrants and passengers to Australia and was the first vessel to make the round trip from Liverpool in under six months. Later in her career, the ship was used as a cargo ship before running aground off Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, in 1883.
Benito de Soto Aboal Pontevedra is in Galicia in northern Spain where the language is close to Portuguese, which has confused some sources that say he was Portuguese. He was captain of the pirate ship Defensor de Pedro, sometimes incorrectly named as the Burla Negra, that was responsible for several piracies in the Atlantic in 1828, in a period of increased piracy following the independence of the new states of South America. The most notable attacks were on the British Indiaman Morning Star and the American ship Topaz, which involved great violence. De Soto was captured and tried in Gibraltar on 20 January 1830 and he was hanged on 25 January. Other members of his crew were captured in Spain. Their trial there began on 19 November 1829 and ten men were executed on 11 and 12 January 1830.
Duke of Roxburgh was launched in 1828 at Newcastle upon Tyne. Initially she traded with India, but later she often sailed between Great Britain and her Australasian colonies carrying emigrants. She was wrecked in 1864.
Robert Clark Morgan was an English sea captain, whaler, diarist, and, in later life, a missionary. He captained the Duke of York, bringing the first settlers to South Australia in 1836. His life in the British whaling industry has been recorded in the book The Man Who Hunted Whales (2011) by Dorothy M. Heinrich. His diaries are held in the State Library of New South Wales.
Benjamin Morrell was an American sea captain, explorer and trader who made a number of voyages, mainly to the Atlantic, the Southern Ocean and the Pacific Islands. In a ghost-written memoir, A Narrative of Four Voyages, which describes his sea-going life between 1823 and 1832, Morrell included numerous claims of discovery and achievement, many of which have been disputed by geographers and historians, and in some cases have been proven false. He ended his career as a fugitive, having wrecked his ship and misappropriated parts of the salvaged cargo.
HMS Charybdis was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Mark Richards and John Davidson at Hythe, and launched in 1809. She captured two American prizes during the War of 1812 before she was laid up in 1815 and sold in 1819. She apparently then became the whaler Greenwich, which made three voyages for Samuel Enderby & Sons and one for Daniel Bennett & Son. She was wrecked in the Seychelles in 1833 on her fourth whaling voyage.
The whaler Globe, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was launched in 1815. She made three whaling voyages and then in 1824, on her fourth, her crew mutinied, killing their officers. Eventually most of the mutineers were killed or captured and the vessel herself was back in Nantucket in her owners' hands. She continued to whale until about 1828. She was broken up circa 1830.
Captain John Dibbs was a master mariner prominent during 1822–1835 in the seas around the colony of New South Wales, New Zealand and the Society Islands. Dibbs was master of the colonial schooner Endeavour 1822–1824, the brig Haweis 1824–1827 and the barque Lady Blackwood 1827–1834. He is credited as the European discoverer of Rarotonga and several other islands. Most of his voyages involved the transporting of missionaries, trade, whaling and seal hunting. He was believed for over 170 years to have disappeared at sea in 1835. He was the father of Sir George Dibbs, a pre-Federation Australian politician, Sir Thomas Dibbs, an Australian banker, and John Campbell Dibbs, a successful Sydney businessman.
Minerva was a merchantman launched in 1773 in the East Indies. She traded there for more than 20 years before she made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). The first EIC voyage was from 1796 to 1798. In 1799 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia while under charter to the EIC. From Australia she sailed to Bengal, and then back to Britain. She underwent repairs in 1802 and then traveled to St Helena and Bengal for the EIC. She was lost in 1805 or 1806 under circumstances that are currently unclear.
Saladin was a British barque that made voyages between Britain and the coast of Peru, carrying shipments of guano. The ship is best known for its demise in an act of mutiny, murder and piracy which began with the murder of its captain and officers and ended with the ship being stranded off the coast of Nova Scotia on 21 May 1844, followed by the last major piracy trial in Canada.
Rifleman was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1809 for the Royal Navy. She served in the North Sea, on the Halifax and Jamaica stations, and in the Mediterranean Sea. During her service she recaptured a Royal Navy vessel in Danish service, and two privateers. The Navy sold her in 1836 and she proceed to sail as a merchantman and whaler between 1837 and 1856.
Vittoria was a sailing ship built in 1813 at Gainsborough. She made one voyage transporting convicts to Australia. She was last listed in 1854.
Esther was launched in 1783 and entered British hands as a French prize of 1793. She took part in a notable single-ship action in 1794 in which she repelled a French privateer. Between 1801 and 1805 she made four slave trading voyages. A French privateer captured her in a sanguinary single-ship action in 1805.
Union was launched at Calcutta in 1801. She sailed to England and then made five voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1805 and 1814. She was wrecked in late 1815 or early 1816.
Calder was a brig launched in 1821 at Calcutta. A new owner in 1822 sailed her to Australia and she then traded in the Pacific until in 1825 she sailed to Chile and was wrecked at Valparaiso. There a new owner salvaged her and returned her to sailing under the name Indefatigable. On Indefatigable's first voyage the Chilean members of her crew mutinied, killing her captain. The mutineers sailed to Guam where the authorities took Indefatigable in prize. She was later lost in a typhoon in the China Sea.
Lancaster was built in France in 1787. She entered British ownership c.1803. In 1805 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people during which a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action, but the Royal Navy recaptured her, enabling her to complete her voyage. She also recaptured a British ship. Thereafter she traded widely until she was last listed in 1825.
Friendship was launched in France or Spain, possibly in 1780. The British captured her in 1797 and she became a West Indiaman, and from 1798 a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Friendship made two complete voyages carrying captives from West Africa to the West Indies. On her third voyage crew members mutinied, taking her before she had embarked any captives. They sailed for a French port in the Caribbean but the Royal Navy retook her in 1801 and brought her into Barbados. There the Government Agent sold her. The incident resulted in a legal dispute between the owners and the insurers that in 1813 was decided in favour of the owners. New owners in 1803 continued to sail Friendship as West Indiaman. She was last listed in 1810.
