On a beautiful evening after work, Sean from Nova Scotia went out for another underwater exploration and clean-up.
Now what the heck is a bottle from New York City doing all the way up here? The first image has the words M.B. & Co. 145 West 35th Street N.Y. 1861 embossed on it. I couldn’t believe it when I came across it on tonight’s dive.
The next item of interest was another button, this time with the image of an elephant, the number 78 and the phrase Assaye Maida Java. A quick Google search reveals it was from a soldier from the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, from the United Kingdom.
Saltwater Sean
M.B. & Co.
There isn’t much information available on the M. B. & Co in New York in 1861. However, many bottles from this company are available for around $35.00 on eBay and Amazon.
78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
On March 8, 1793, Francis Humberston MacKenzie, Chief of the Clan Mackenzie and later Lord Seaforth, raised the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot. Formed at Fort George in July 1793, the regiment relocated to the Channel Islands in August 1893, and embarked for Holland in September 1794 to serve in the French Revolutionary Wars.[ It saw action in November 1794 during the defense of Nijmegen. The regiment arrived in England in April 1795, then sailed to France for the Battle of Quiberon Bay in June 1795 and the landing at Île d’Yeu, off the coast of Brittany, in September 1795, before returning to England.
In 1865, the regiment embarked for Gibraltar, and in May 1869, it sailed on the troopship HMS Crocodile to Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving on May 14, 1869. During the summer, the regiment camped at Bedford to practice musketry at the military range. Alexander Keith, Grandmaster of the Masonic Lodge of Nova Scotia, hosted a farewell ball for them before they left in 1871. In November 1871, the regiment, along with 17 young local women who had married soldiers, boarded the troopship HMS Orontes bound for Ireland.
The 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band, a grade one pipe band formed in 1983, is managed by Citadel Hill, which features a living history program with animators portraying the 78th Highland Regiment.
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