Another most unfortunate lacuna in the extant correspondence means that we know little about the Celys’ social activities during the period between October 1484 and January 1487, save for such casual references in extracted accounts as one of their attendance at William Walgrave's marriage on 15 January 1486. Their business affairs are better documented, especially for the years 1486 and 1487, which saw their important new diversification into the shipping trade. Their acquisition, early in 1486, of the Breton fishing-vessel which they renamed the Margaret Cely and her subsequent operations, will have a chapter to themselves.

Besides their new commitment as ship-owners, Richard and George started 1486 with a heavy investment in wool, to compensate for their scanty shipments in the previous year. In April they exported 31 sarplers and a poke and 2,194 fells. In addition, they made an exceptional deal with the Spaniard Juan Pardo. Pardo, from a family originating in Burgos, did business in Bruges and also London, where he was associated with Pedro De Salamanca, an associate in turn of Alvaro De Cisneros, who had now replaced Pedro Valladolid as the English agent of the Celys’ customer, De Lopez. There was a whole group of such Spanish (or rather Castilian) merchants, who are to be found in English records trading in a variety of commodities, in what appear to be ad hoc partnerships among themselves.