The Governor Parr Courtesy of the Mariners Museum
Lost ship built in Atlantic Canada
It has been said the ship Governor Parr, 912 tons, was built in Atlantic Canada. The four-master in gleaming white paint was the masterpiece of her builder, W.R. Huntley of Parrsboro. She was built for A.F.Davison of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia and her master, Captain A.D. Richards of LaHave.
On Sept. 27, 1923, she sailed from Ingramport, N.S. toward Buenos Ayres with a cargo of lumber. Shortly after sailing she encountered a storm and very heavy weather, and lost her mizzen and spanker mast, and had other extensive damage. The American ship SS Schodack took off the crew on Oct. 3, 1923.
Packed with over one million board feet of lumber, the abandoned vessel became a derelict and became famous for the extent of her drift across the Atlantic. Remaining afloat and a menace to navigation for a year, several attempts were made to destroy her. All of these efforts failed.
She was last sighted still afloat on Oct. 14, 1924 off the Canary Islands, some 2,000 miles east of the spot where she was abandoned; the distance covered by her wandering exceeded that figure. Captain Angus Richards and one of his seamen lost their lives in this event.
It has been said that the Governor Parr had an extremely large cargo with an excessive deck load and this factor was largely responsible for bringing about her loss.
