In December 1735, a ship with decks covered in blood sailed into Chebogue, in present-day Yarmouth County, N.S., and dropped anchor.
It was the brigantine Baltimore and the story of what happened on board remains shrouded in mystery to this day.
The Acadians who lived in the area of southwestern Nova Scotia were puzzled by the unexpected visitor. After several days seeing no signs of life they investigated and discovered the grisly scene.
As they made their way through the blood-soaked decks it was obvious the ship had been ransacked and not a soul remained on board.
Not long after this discovery, members of a local Indigenous group, described in documents of the time as Cape Sable Indians, handed over a woman they said was from the ship to local resident Charles D’Entremont.
In the mid 1700s, neither the Acadians nor the Indigenous population were happy with their new British overlords and relations between the two groups were relatively harmonious.
Some later accounts say the woman was found barricaded in the captain’s cabin when local residents boarded, but this is not supported by official documents at the time.
The woman said she was Susannah Buckler, the wife of the ship’s captain Andrew Buckler.
According to an entry in the 1736 edition of the Virginia Gazette, the woman said they had come ashore to gather fresh water but found only snow which they melted and put in barrels.
Two servants were sent ashore with the ship’s boat to wash dirty linens but they never returned, the story said.
“They imagin’d them to be cut off by the Indians,” the story reported.
“They were left destitute of a boat, and oblig’d to tarry on board; that at length the owner, and every one else on board (this woman excepted) perish’d for want of water; that the Indians then came on board and rifled the vessel.”