diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/Schema.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/Schema.java
index 4da0e63ff..2832898f7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/Schema.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/Schema.java
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ public Database findDatabase(String string) {
 		return null;
 	}
 
+	public void addDatabase(Database d) {
+		this.databases.add(d);
+	}
+
 	public Schema copy() {
 		ArrayList<Database> newDBs = new ArrayList<>();
 		for ( Database d : this.databases ) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/SchemaStore.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/SchemaStore.java
index aacbdbbe9..ce465226a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/SchemaStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/SchemaStore.java
@@ -235,6 +235,14 @@ private void restoreFrom(BinlogPosition targetPosition)
 
 		this.schema_id = schemaRS.getLong("id");
 
+		if ( this.schema.findDatabase("mysql") == null ) {
+			LOGGER.info("Could not find mysql db, adding it to schema");
+			SchemaCapturer sc = new SchemaCapturer(connection, "mysql");
+			Database db = sc.capture().findDatabase("mysql");
+			this.schema.addDatabase(db);
+			shouldResave = true;
+		}
+
 		p = connection.prepareStatement("SELECT * from `maxwell`.`databases` where schema_id = ? ORDER by id");
 		p.setLong(1, this.schema_id);
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/SchemaStoreTest.java b/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/SchemaStoreTest.java
index c3a6f64a9..24513f5d5 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/SchemaStoreTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/SchemaStoreTest.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import com.zendesk.maxwell.schema.Database;
 import com.zendesk.maxwell.schema.Schema;
 import com.zendesk.maxwell.schema.SchemaCapturer;
 import com.zendesk.maxwell.schema.SchemaStore;
@@ -93,4 +94,13 @@ public void testMasterChange() throws Exception {
 		rs = server.getConnection().createStatement().executeQuery("SELECT * from `maxwell`.`positions`");
 		assertThat(rs.next(), is(false));
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testRestoreMysqlDb() throws Exception {
+		Database db = this.schema.findDatabase("mysql");
+		this.schema.getDatabases().remove(db);
+		this.schemaStore.save();
+		SchemaStore restoredSchema = SchemaStore.restore(server.getConnection(), server.SERVER_ID, this.binlogPosition);
+		assertThat(restoredSchema.getSchema().findDatabase("mysql"), is(not(nullValue())));
+	}
 }