The Bermuda Perfumery is to give visitors a rare opportunity to catch a scent of Bermuda’s history — perfumes lost at sea for almost 150 years.

The perfumes were found three years ago, hidden in the bow of the Mary Celestia, which sunk off the Island’s South Shore in 1864.

Since then, experts have analysed the perfumes and have been able to recreate the scent with modern ingredients, making the perfume available for the public for the first time in more than a century.

“We’ve spent months investigating, and researching, and I’m immensely proud of the work we’ve amassed for the global fragrance industry,” Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone, the Director of the Bermuda Perfumery, said.

“This story is fascinating in so many domains: for shipwreck divers, historians, as well as perfumers. My goal now is to allow the public to get close to this discovery — to smell the perfume, and experience its notes.

“I hope by sharing the story of this perfume, and its intriguing mystery, we grow the understanding, and love, of modern day fragrance making in the hearts of many people.”

Government’s conservator of historic wrecks Phillippe Rouja, who was part of the team which recovered the bottles in 2011, said at the time that the bottles were found stashed in the Mary Celestia’s bow, along with five unopened bottles of wine, cologne, wooden shoes and a wooden hairbrush.

The items were considered luxuries during the US Civil War — having been banned by the Confederates — and were likely being sold by the crew on the black market. After the ship sank they were buried in heavy sediment, where they remained until the sediment was stirred up by a strong winter storm.

The perfume was labelled Piesse & Lubin London, an upscale Bond Street perfume house led by GW Piesse, which has long since closed. Apart from the bottles recovered in the shipwreck, it is not known if any of his perfumes have survived to the present day.

“We initially had no idea of the potential significance of the perfume and, led by Isabelle and her colleagues, it has been an enlightening journey for us into the magical world of historic and modern fine perfume,” Dr Rouja said.

Last April, Mrs Ramsay-Brackstone hand delivered the perfume to Drom Fragrances in New Jersey to determine the ingredients of the recovered perfume.

The results will be unveiled later this month when the Bermuda Perfumery will make the Piesse & Lubin perfume available to smell, and showcase a reproduction of the scent following the original formula, using today’s version of the ingredients.

The story is also set to be highlighted as the cover story in this month’s edition of Perfumer & Flavorist, considered a global authority in the fragrance industry, written by Mrs Ramsay-Brackstone and Dr Rouja, along with Jean-Claude Delville and Lionel Nesbitt from Drom, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s James Delgado and Dominique Rissolo, the Executive Director of the Waitt Institute.