The mystery of the Mary Celeste

Mary Celeste

The Mary Celeste (often incorrectly referred to as Marie Celeste) was a merchant ship notably discovered in December 1872 in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned, despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able seamen. The Mary Celeste was in seaworthy condition and still under sail heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar. She had been at sea for a month and had over six months' worth of food and water on board. Her cargo was virtually untouched and the personal belongings of passengers and crew were still in place, including valuables. The crew was never seen or heard from again. Their disappearance is often cited as the greatest maritime mystery of all time.

The fate of her crew has been the subject of much speculation. Theories range from alcoholic fumes, to underwater earthquakes, to waterspouts, to paranormal explanations involving hypothetical extraterrestrial, unidentified flying objects, sea monsters, and the hypothetical phenomena of the Bermuda Triangle. The Mary Celeste is often described as the archetypal ghost ship, since she was discovered derelict without any apparent explanation, and her name has become a synonym in popular culture for similar occurrences.


Benjamin Briggs

On November 5, 1872, under command of Captain Briggs, the Mary Celeste docked on New York City's East River and took on board a cargo of 1,701 barrels of commercial alcohol intended for fortifying Italian wines on behalf of Meissner Ackermann & Co. It was worth about $35,000 and heavily insured in Europe. The Mary Celeste then set sail from Staten Island for Genoa, Italy.

In addition to her captain and a crew of seven, she carried the captain's wife, who had sailed with her husband many times, and their two-year-old daughter. Thus ten people were aboard. Briggs had spent most of his life at sea, and had captained at least five ships and owned many more. The crew for this voyage included a Dane and four Germans, but all spoke fluent English, had exemplary records, and were considered experienced, trustworthy and able seamen. The first mate and cook were Americans.

Before the Mary Celeste left New York, Captain Briggs spoke with an old friend, David Reed Morehouse, from Nova Scotia, who was captain of the Canadian merchant ship Dei Gratia. Briggs, Morehouse, and their wives, had dinner together on the evening of 4 November. Briggs and Morehouse had served together as sailors when they were young. During the conversation, they discovered they had a similar course across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean.

However, Morehouse was still waiting for his cargo to arrive when the Mary Celeste left port on November 5. Morehouse's cargo eventually arrived and on November 15, the Dei Gratia finally set off with 1,735 barrels of petroleum in her hold. The Dei Gratia left New York harbor seven days after the Mary Celeste.


Discovery of the  Mary Celeste

Sporadic bad weather had been reported in the Atlantic throughout October, although the Dei Gratia encountered none and her journey across the ocean in November was uneventful. Just short of a month later after leaving port, on December 4, 1872 at approximately 13:00, the helmsman of the Dei Gratia, John Johnson, sighted a ship about five miles off their port bow through his spyglass. The position of the Dei Gratia was approximately 600 miles west of Portugal. Johnson's keen, experienced eyes detected almost at once that there was something strangely wrong with the other vessel. She was yawing slightly, and her sails did not look right, being slightly torn. Johnson alerted his second officer, John Wright, who looked and had the same feelings about her. They informed the captain. As they moved closer, they saw the ship was the Mary Celeste. Captain Morehouse wondered why the Mary Celeste had not already reached Italy, as she had a head start on his own ship. According to the account given by the crew of the Dei Gratia, they approached to 400 yards from the Mary Celeste and cautiously observed her for two hours. She was under sail, yet sailing erratically on a starboard tack, and slowly heading toward the Strait of Gibraltar. They concluded she was drifting after seeing no one at the wheel or even on deck, though the ship was flying no distress signal.

Oliver Deveau, chief mate of the Dei Gratia, boarded the Mary Celeste. He reported he did not find anyone on board, and said that "the whole ship was a thoroughly wet mess". There was only one operational pump, two apparently having been disassembled, with a lot of water between decks and three and a half feet of water in the hold. However, the ship was not sinking and was still seaworthy.

The cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol Devreau reported, was in good order. However, when it was eventually unloaded in Genoa, nine barrels were found to be empty.

A six-month supply of uncontaminated food and fresh water was still aboard, and the crew's personal possessions and artifacts were left untouched, making a piracy raid seem extremely unlikely. It appeared the vessel had been abandoned in a hurry. There was no sign of a struggle, or any sort of violence.



Speculation and theories

An insurance scam

Insurance fraud has been cited as a possible explanation. This requires that Briggs and Morehouse colluded and that Captain Briggs assumed a new identity. However, the insurance premium to be paid was not a great amount of money. Moreover, the ship belonged to James Winchester, not Benjamin Briggs. A staged incident would have required much risk for a very modest profit.

Tsunami

A theory is that a tidal wave was caused by an earthquake or perhaps a landslide in the Canary Islands or the Azores. The crew were either washed overboard, or a giant oncoming wave scared them into evacuation. This would have explained why the Mary Celeste had taken on so much water. Again, no tsunami, earthquake or landslide was reported either on land or at sea. Tsunamis are more or less unnoticeable in deep water and do not present a threat to shipping (the only ships lost in the 2004 Asian tsunami were in port). Tsunamis only become dangerous as they approach the shoreline. This theory would also require passengers and crew to have been on deck at the time. However, a rogue wave might be a plausible explanation.

Mutiny

Another theory has suggested there was a mutiny among the crew who murdered a tyrannical Briggs and his family, then escaped in the lifeboat. However, this is strongly discredited by the fact Briggs had no "tyrannical" history to suggest he was the type of captain to provoke his crew to mutiny. By all accounts, he was well respected, fair and able. First Mate Albert Richardson and the rest of the crew also had excellent reputations and were experienced, loyal seamen.

Drunkenness amongst the crew

After the admiralty court proceeding, Solly-Flood QC proposed that the crew, after consuming the alcohol from the kegs that were recovered empty, murdered the Briggs family in a drunken stupor. The mutinous crew are then presumed to have deliberately damaged the vessel to give the illusion of having been forced to abandon it, then they would have left in lifeboats. However, the captain was a believer in abstinence and unlikely to tolerate drinking on board or a crew inclined to drink alcohol.

Again, there was no trace of struggle or violence aboard the vessel, and the crew had good records.



So , what do you think is the most likely explanation?