BANGOR (AP) – Molly K. Carney, who as Molly Kool was the first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain, has died at her home in Bangor. She was 93.

Known in Canada by her maiden name, Molly Kool won her captain’s papers in 1939 and sailed the North Atlantic between Alma, New Brunswick, and Boston for five years.

Ken Kelly, president of the Fundy Beautification and Historical Society, says she moved to Maine after her love of a man proved stronger than her love of the sea.

He says that at the time of her death on Feb. 25, Molly Carney was living in an independent retirement community in Bangor, where there was a lighthouse and a captain’s wheel outside her room. He says residents there called her “Captain Molly.”