On November 4, 1872 the Mary Celeste embarked from New York
City to Genoa, Italy with a cargo of industrial alcohol (please don’t ask me
what the hell that is). However, on
December 5, 1872 the Mary Celeste was found drifting about 400 miles east of
the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. By
this time, the ship should have been far past the Azores; the captain and crew
of the Dei Gratia, the ship that initially spotted the Mary Celeste, observed
the ship yawing and tatters in the sails.
After two hours of observation they boarded the ship, and shit instantly
got weird.
Upon boarding the ship the crew of the Dei Gratia found the
ship in relatively good condition—the ship was still adrift on something close
to its planned route even. Some things
seemed out of place, for example, two pumps were disassembled and there was
about three and a half feet of water on the ship’s bottom. But what was weirder is what the crew didn’t
find. For example, they didn’t find any
people. The ten people that should have
been aboard just weren’t. There was
enough good food and water aboard to sustain the vanished crew for around six
months. A couple naval sounding
transport and navigation instruments were also missing (I’d name them, but,
let’s be honest no one reading this knows what the fuck they are). But the crew’s belongings and all of the
1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol were still on board (it would later be
discovered that nine random barrels were empty, however), though the ship’s
only lifeboat was gone. Captain Briggs’
log was still on board also, the last entry being at around five am on November
25, wherein he stated that he had just spotted the Azores.
The captain and crew of the Mary Celeste were never seen or
heard from again and most of the biggest questions remain unanswered. Prominently, the question of why a serious
and experienced sea captain would abandon a perfectly okay ship. Not to mention the question of where the fuck
everyone went after abandoning the aforementioned pretty okay ship.
Here are my favorite theories about the fate of the Mary
Celeste and her crew.
The Theory: Crew members, probably two German brothers that worked as deck hands, got drunk on the industrial alcohol, murdered the captain and the crew and then disappeared on the lifeboat.
Why It’s A Thing: Two courts of inquiry were called, one in England under the vice admiralty court and a second led by Americans (because two of the missing crewmen were American). The English inquiry reported that blood was found in the captain’s chamber and on an ornamental cutlass Capt Briggs had owned. No other damage was really found on the ship and, once the ship was in port, it was found that nine barrels of alcohol were empty. This theory does explain why everyone is missing. It also explains the missing lifeboat and the missing navigational equipment, as well as the missing alcohol. The German brothers were found to have no personal effects on the ship, leading many to surmise that they had taken them with them upon fleeing.
Why It’s Probably Not A Thing: This theory is intriguing and it does explain away a lot of the weird shit aboard the ship. However, it doesn’t explain why no food was taken, nor does it explain the complete lack of destruction on the ship itself. Also, that blood that was found was contested by the American inquiry, who insisted that it was rust. The barrels that were empty were made of a different wood than the rest of the barrels, this wood is more porous meaning there’s a possibility the barrels just leaked. Researchers and even the descendants of the German brothers maintain that the reason no effects from the Germans were found was because the German brothers simply didn’t have anything, which wouldn’t be a strange concept as both were poor laborers.
The Theory: Pirates boarded the ship and killed or kidnapped nearly everyone.
Why It’s
A Thing: Well, a mystery ship devoid of
people in the Atlantic tends to bring thoughts of pirates. Pirates were still a very real thing in 1872. Just two years before the Mary Celeste was
found drifting, the United States Navy had fought the Battle of Teacapan
against pirates running attacks in the Atlantic and Caribbean from the ship
Forward. So a lot of knee-jerk reaction
involved pirates. However, the theory of
pirates in this case does start to diverge at some point. The crew aboard the Dei Gratia was actually
suspected of killing the captain and crew of the Mary Celeste in order to get
the salvage rights to the ship and cargo.
Salvage rights were a weird thing, and continue to be. Basically, if you find a ship that has been
abandoned you can claim a right to part of the money that it was insured
for. The crew of Dei Gratia applied for
this money but was only awarded a small amount, which is a good sign that the
insurance company and inquiry court had their suspicions as to the part the Dei
Gratia guys played in the fate of the Mary Celeste as well.
Why
It’s Probably Not A Thing: The ship was
in near pristine condition when it was found by the crew of the Dei
Gratia. Pirates tend to not be very neat
and tidy. According to those that
boarded the ship, nothing seemed to be out of place including the very
expensive load of alcohol the ship was carrying. It doesn’t make sense that traditional
pirates would have taken over the ship, killed everyone, not taken anything and
then left the ship drifting. As far as
the crew of the Dei Gratia is concerned, the theory is implausible for the same
reasons—the ship was too tidy, nothing was taken, etc. One could argue that the crew could have
cleaned up and wouldn’t have had a reason to take anything, however, it’s strange
that a hostile take-over of a ship wouldn’t have at least produced some
accidental damage. Further, it was
revealed that the captain of the Dei Gratia and Captain Briggs were good
friends that had dined together just a couple nights before the Mary Celeste
set sail.
3.)
Industrial Alcohol Vapors!
The Theory: The barrels that the industrial alcohol was stored in allowed gas to leak out of the barrel causing Captain Briggs to fear that a spark would ignite the gas and blow the ship up once this leakage was made known. Briggs ordered everyone into the life raft which was then somehow separated from the ship and all aboard drowned, starved or died of exposure.
Why
It’s A Thing: Captain Briggs had
mentioned on multiple occasions that he was uncomfortable hauling such a large
load of volatile stuff, and really you can’t blame him. The vapors emitting from the alcohol are
highly flammable at a very low heat. The
barrels were reinforced with metal and the cargo was not well secured in the
hold causing the barrels to rub against each other. It’s possible that these vapors could have
built up to a point that when the hold was open a large gas cloud was emitted
causing Capt Briggs and the crew to panic and head for the lifeboat. A frayed rope hanging behind the ship lends
some legitimacy to this as it could have been used to tie the lifeboat to the
ship. A large wave or other weather could
have broken the rope and sent the lifeboat adrift.
Why
It’s Probably Not A Thing: This theory
is considered the most plausible and it is, at least at the time of this
writing, the most widely accepted theory.
But something always seems a little off about it to me. It seems unlikely to me that a well-respected
and experienced sailor like Captain Briggs would have panicked so easily and
made such a rash decision. Also,
according to contemporary accounts from other ships in the area, including the
Dei Gratia, the seas were unusually calm for that time of year and the weather
was nice, making a wave fraying the rope on the lifeboat unlikely.
4.)
Rogue Wave!
Why It’s A Thing: The rogue wave would explain the water in the bottom of the ship. It would also explain the missing lifeboat and passengers. The theory runs that when everyone was on deck a rogue wave hit the boat pulling everyone over board and to their deaths. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association, rogue waves are “greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come up unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves.” Which seems to fit into the narrative of the Mary Celeste; this theory also explains why so much was left on the ship. Personal affects, potable water, food, blankets, basically anything you would need to survive at sea in a lifeboat, were left on the Mary Celeste leading most scholars to believe that everyone left quickly or left against their will.
Why It’s Probably Not A Thing: Rogue waves are extremely rare. Not only that, but they are devastating. They have been known to rip ships apart and the Mary Celeste wasn’t ripped apart—it is unlikely that a rogue wave would have hit the ship without damaging it in some way. Not only that, but the rogue wave doesn’t explain why the nautical equipment was missing, nor does it explain the disassembled pumps which were inside the boat, not on the outside where a wave would have been able to disassemble them.
5.)
Sea Monster!
The Theory:
A sea monster attacked the ship killing everyone aboard.
Why It’s A Thing: Sea monsters would explain why nothing of
what wasn’t on the ship was ever seen again.
Nothing has turned up since 1872 regarding the crew or any supplies from
the Mary Celeste and contemporary sailors were convinced that sea monsters were
a thing. Sea monsters are capable of
vast destruction and do tend to snack on humans.
Why It’s Probably Not A Thing: It’s safe to assume that a sea monster attack
would cause serious damage to the Mary Celeste, so the lack of damage to the
ship is a pretty good indicator that the captain and crew probably didn’t
succumb to a sea monster attack. Also,
sea monsters don’t exist.
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There’s some new research being funded in
part by the Smithsonian Institute as to the fate of the Mary Celeste. Check out this article about it: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/abandoned-ship-the-mary-celeste-174488104/?page=1
If you want to know more about rogue waves
and all things weather related, check out the NOAA website: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/roguewaves.html
There was a time when sea monsters really
were considered a thing. Old mariners
put locations of sea monsters on their maps, kind of like the beware of deer
signs we have today. Strange science
does a great write up about it here: http://www.strangescience.net/stsea2.htm
This blog website is pretty cool! How was it made !
ReplyDeletedinghies