Origins
The Mary Celeste was a 282-gross ton brigantine. She was built by the shipbuilders of Joshua Dewis in 1861 as the ship Amazon at the village of Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia. She was the first of many large ships that were built in that small community. The Amazon was owned by a group of eight investors from Cumberland County and Kings County, Nova Scotia, led by the shipbuilder Joshua Dewis, and William Henry Bigalow, a local merchant. The Amazon was registered at the nearby Nova Scotia town of Parrsboro, the closest local port of registry.
The Amazon's first captain, Robert McLellan, son of one of the owners, contracted pneumonia nine days after taking command, and he died at the very beginning of her maiden voyage. He was the first of three captains to die aboard her. John Nutting Parker, the next captain of the Amazon, struck a fishing boat, and had to steer her back to the shipyard for repairs. At the shipyard, a fire broke out in the middle of the ship. Her first trans-Atlantic crossing was also disastrous for her next captain, after she collided with another vessel in the English Channel near Dover, England. This resulted in the dismissal of the new captain.
After this awkward beginning, the brigantine had six profitable and uneventful years under her Nova Scotian owners. She travelled to the West Indies, Central America and South America, and transported a wide range of cargoes. In 1867, the ship ran aground during a storm off Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. After she was salvaged, she was sold for $1,750 to Richard Haines of New York, and was repaired at a cost of $8,825.03. In 1868, she was transferred to the American registry, and the following year was renamed the Mary Celeste. The new owners' intention was to take her across the Atlantic and make a profit trading with the Adriatic ports.
The ownership of this sailing ship was divided into 24 shares, owned by four partners:
- James H. Winchester (12)
- Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs (8)
- Sylvester Goodwin (2)
- Daniel T. Sampson (2)
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