First time I heard Stan Rogers song "Mary Ellen Carter" was in Galway, Ireland sung by no less that Tommy Maken. Before he sang, he told the aduience a little ditty about the MEC.... He said the vessel was a small fishing vessel working the fishing grounds off New Foundland and occassionally she would take a trip to the West Indies with a hold full of dried fish and return with rum and spices to New Foundland......he went on about the crew of this mighty vessel and how they had become almost part of her and when she sank, well they just had to riase her from the seabed. Anyway, I believed him. But having read so many responces to this request 'The background to the Mary Ellen Carter' I'm not so sure.

Brian