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Mary, the ship
sailed out to sea
the crew disappeared
oh, where can they be
..... the MARY CELESTE sailed from New York bound for Genoa on November 4th 1872. On board were the American master Capt Briggs, his first mate, a crew of seven, the Captain's wife Sarah and daughter Sophia. It was the Captain's first ever voyage in the Mary Celeste and he had been offered a third share in the ship by the consortium which owned her. The cargo she was carrying was 1,700 casks of crude alcohol.
On December 5th 1872 another ship, the Dei Gratia came alongside her and on boarding found that although the ship was deserted everything was in order. The last entry made in the log was on the 25th November. The mystery of the disappearance of all those on board has never been solved and sailors refused to serve on her after that believing the Mary Celeste to be cursed. Over the next 11 years the ship changed hands 17 times until in 1884 it was bought by a group of Boston businessmen. They over insured her and sent it to Haiti where on a clear day , in a calm sea, the captain ran onto a coral reef. The attempted fraud was discovered and the new masters were brought to court. The old wooden hulk of the Mary Celeste was left to rot unseen on the remote Caribbean reef
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Mary, the soldier
fights like a man
sailor or pirate
or robber on land
..... MARY ANNE TALBOT..... known as the 'British Amazon' was probably the first woman sailor in the British Navy. Born in 1778 she served in Flanders in 1792 as a drummer boy, then as a cabin boy in the 'Le Sage' and later in the Brunswick where she was wounded in the great battle known as ' The Glorious First of June'. She later became a servant and received a small pension. Her history is recorded by her employer in his 'Wonderful Museum' 2nd volume published in 1804
..... TROOPER MARY fought as a man in the 17th or 18th century
..... Molly Pitcher was the name given to MARY L HAYS McCAULEY who carried water in a pitcher to the revolutionary soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. She was born in 1754 and died in 1832
..... MARY READ was one of the first women pirates. Along with her partner Anne Bonney they could brandish a cutlass with the best in the days of Blackbeard and Captain Kidd. For months they roamed the high seas and it was said by later witnesses that they were more bloodthirsty and threatening than the men. Eventually they were captured along with the men in their crew. The men were all hanged but Mary and Anne were reprieved because they were pregnant. Put into prison, Mary died shortly after of prison fever but Anne's father used his influence to get her released and she was never heard of again
..... MARY FRITH was an English highway robber known as Moll Cutpurse who was born in 1584. Sent to work as a servant after refusing to go to school she rebelled and began to dress as a man, carry a sword and turned to petty crime. She was described as a bully, pickpurse, fortune teller, receiver and forger but somehow managed to avoid being brought before the courts. Eventually she became the head of a gang of thieves. She was later convicted of robbing and wounding a General and was sent to Newgate Prison but a payment of £2000 damages secured her release. She ran a pawnshop in Fleet Street where people could recover their own stolen goods and became a popular myth figure. When she died in 1659 she was 75 years old and three years later her autobiography was published
..... MARY EAST was born c 1715 and nothing is known of her earlier life. When her young lover was caught and transported for life because of highway robbery she swore to live the rest of her life without male company. Joining forces with a friend who was also of the same mind they pooled what resources they had and left home posing as husband and wife. Mary dressed in men's clothes and took the name of James Howe. For a while they ran a small public house in Epping in Essex but eventually moved to a better one in Poplar, the White Horse. When her partner fell ill and was on the point of death she told her relatives of the deception which she and Mary had carried out all these years, Mary had to pay half of her fortune over to these relatives after her companion died. It was here also that a woman, who had discovered Mary's secret years earlier and had been blackmailing her, tried to extort a larger amount of money than usual. Mary would not pay and turned to a neighbour for help. Her secret came out and James Howe ceased to exist. The White Horse was sold and she bought a house in another part of Poplar living there quietly as a woman until her death in 1781 and remaining faithful to the long lost lover of her youth