Did the Myrtilla, a ship that is known to have transported slaves, bring the Liberty Bell to America?
No, the Bell arrived on the Hibernia, captained by William Child. As the Liberty Bell Center is five feet from the Slave Quarters, many articles about the Slave Quarters make a reference to the ship that brought the Liberty Bell to America. Isaac Norris, the man who oversaw the installation of the bell in the State House, wrote on Sept. 1, 1752, that the bell had recently arrived. The only ship from England that docked in Philadelphia during the month of August that year was the Hibernia, a ship of modest size, transporting dry goods and passengers regularly between England, the colonies and Ireland. No known records identify the Hibernia’s owner either before or at the time it transported the bell. According to newspaper accounts of port activity, the Myrtilla docked in Philadelphia at the end of September 1752.
