M/V ABASTASHA or LADY TASHA, served Mayaguana, Crooked Island, Acklins Island Bahamas in 1975 – PHOTO 2016

by Eric Wiberg

MAILBOAT NAME: M/V Abastasha
PAST NAMES: not known but this is probably a miss spelling, possibly of Anastasia
DIMENSIONS: not known
CONSTRUCTION: not known
YEAR BUILT: before 1973
BUILDER: not known
EARLY CAREER: not known
BAHAMAS CAREER: served as a mailboat from Nassau to Mayaguana, Acklins, and Crooked Island as a mailboat listed by the Bahamas government in August 1975
CAPTAINS: not known
OWNERS: not known

FATE: believed sunk off Northern Potter’s Cay Dock, Nassau, in the 2000’s, then in Fall 2016 as part of a governmental / Bahamas Ferries cleanup raised and tied to Arawak Cay.


This image is of either LADY TASHA or ABASTASHA – name is obscured by years of immersion and neglect, after having been raised and towed from Potter’s Cay to Arawak Cay in the Fall of 2016. It may be a case of just kicking the can down the street as there seems no firm salvage or disposal arrangement for the vessel, but at least it’s not congesting the waterfront at Potter’s Cay – now just Arawak Cay’s waterfront…. It is on the Southwest tip of the Cay, which was recently expanded by dredging spoil.

Source: James & John Wiberg, author’s brothers, Nassau Bahamas.



The submerged wreck of the LADY TASHA aka Abastasha at Potter’s Cay, March 2015.

 Sources: WikiLeaks list of all Bahamian mailboats, August 1975 listed “ABASTASHA (CROOKED/ACKLINS/MAYAGUANA)” https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975NASSAU01435_b.html