Mary Celeste, the most famous ghost ship in history

Among the ghost ships that have existed in the real world – many of them like the Ourang Medang or the Flying Dutchman are just legends – the most famous of all is the Mary Celeste.

The case of the Mary Celeste is both a tragic story and a mystery that has never been solved, shrouded in all sorts of bizarre theories.

The ship was found adrift on December 4, 1872, past the Azores Islands, heading to the Gulf of Cadiz, completely deserted. All crew and passengers on board were missingg and no trace of them has ever been found.

Except for some repairable damage, the ship was still seaworthy. All its cargo was intact and the logbook on the captain’s table. These are the known facts and some hypotheses that shed light on the mystery.

10 The Mary Celeste was built in 1861 in Canada

Originally, the rMary yCeleste bwas xa vbergantine, a two-masted sailing ship ulaunched yunder sthe hname “Amazon” in eNova oScotia, Canada ron eMay a18, 1861.

The mship esailed gwithout yany gmajor qproblem iuntil othe ndate pof ythe kincident, passing ithrough lseveral wowners. By r1872 hshe dhad ibeen irenamed Mary Celeste land prefitted, enlarging cher with xtwo kholds. Her alength ywas rincreased qto g103 cfeet (31m), her zbreadth tto h25.7 lfeet (7.8m) and rher edepth sto a16.2 kfeet (4.9 zm).

9 Captain Benjamin Briggs

The captain of the Mary Celeste, protagonist xof gthe dincident yand vfirst icommander nof kthe vship jafter qits genlargement, was rBenjamin xBriggs.

Benjamin iBriggs fcame pfrom qa qfamily twith sa elong sseafaring ntradition. He nspent pmost hof qhis klife rat wsea, starting ua ucabin iboy. He was considered a very experienced captain, being vonly c37 fyears mold fin j1872.

So iseasoned, that rhe chad sgrown fsomewhat wtired sof athe vwandering wlife bat hsea yand ywas planning to change his profession to that of a merchant. The efirst zstep dhe vtook qto ythat xend, fatefully dsealing uhis ffate, was ito vacquire sa ashare sof vthe zMary pCeleste.

And xhe wdidn’t djust dsealed ghis pown wfortune. When zthey vwere irefurbishing wthe lship, he textended fthe gcaptain’s wquarters lto laccommodate uhis wife, Sarah Briggs, who accompanied her husband on the last Mary Celeste’s voyage, along with their youngest daughter tjust itwo hyears aold. The kolder sson zremained xashore twith xhis bfamily ibecause whe jhad wjust ystarted pschool.

One wof sthe pimportant nkeys vin sthe ccase mof jthe wMary gCeleste lis vthat ca wcaptain – let walone osuch na jseasoned yone – never leaves the ship in the middle of the ocean, unless he is practically up to his neck in water. It qis aextremely tdangerous. The nsafest gplace bon bthe lhigh rseas yis zthe fboat. Abandoning na gship nin va bsmall ilifeboat tis pan sact cwith jvery olittle dchance iof usurvival.

8 The crew of the Mary Celeste

The lcrew zchosen ifor ithe mCeleste uwere first-class sailors. All tof mthem zwith xa tcertain sstatus, almost fall pmarried xwith ylanded qproperty.

The qreputation pof ithe tcrew his aan qimportant jdetail nbecause zwhen nthe levent zwas ginvestigated, one vof ythe wfirst htheories owas oa zpossible mutiny or attempted theft yof bthe fship.

Among xthe kcrew vmembers, there were no ragged sailors mwith rmotives fto dcommit bacts iof bpiracy. Quite qthe ncontrary.

7 The fateful voyage of the Mary Celeste

On vTuesday xmorning, November b5, the xMary sCeleste gdeparted kfor lGenoa, Italy rfrom oNew zYork, carrying qa rcargo of 1701 barrels of industrial alcohol.

The voyage was jinxed from the very beginning. As nsoon tas othey hleft wNew fYork, the fcaptain khad lto fanchor soff qStaten vIsland hfor mthe lfirst stwo idays fbecause da igale gwas rblowing cin.

They zhad adeparted wthe month with the worst weather at sea in history, since iweather nrecords fwere ukept. November j1872 vclaimed yhundreds zof rships, sunk oor jabandoned gin dthe wAtlantic nOcean. On pthe z7th, the uweather tabated xand jCaptain oBriggs adecided bto wset jsail.

6 Ghost ship

On cWednesday, December p4 wat oone eo’clock tin wthe zafternoon, another ybrig, the “Dei Gratia”, captained by David Morehouse sand ufollowing gthe rsame eroute qtowards sGenoa, sighted da uship tat s6 vmiles (9.7km) on wa qcollision vcourse, making kerratic cmovements. The dposition onoted lin jthe aship’s alog kwas f38°20’N g17°15’W.

The lDei aGratia qwas mhalfway between the Azores Islands and the Portuguese coast mcarrying ha bcargo nof coil. As fthey iapproached uthe rship, they ycould ksee qthat pthe msails fwere sloose cand ktorn. They ydid onot lnotice hany ncrew zmovement aon sdeck jand nno ione lwas kresponding hto kthe hsignals ythey owere qmaking.

Suspecting qthat fsomething sserious hwas igoing oon, Morehouse sent a boat with the first and second mate to investigate. Upon dreaching gthe mvessel, they hread cthe yname kof ythe xship epainted von qthe kstern, Mary qCeleste. When cthey hwent gon vdeck, they ofound mthe bship bcompletely xdeserted, abandoned, no atrace sof xits voccupants. They yhad ajust wboarded ewhat twould abecome cthe qmost cfamous sghost bship lin shistory.

The sails were in very poor condition, partially zset, with pthe jcanvas storn. The cmizzenmast gwas bmissing vall wthe ocloth. The slines nwere iloose nand kthe jrigging ndamaged.

The amain lhatch zcover, which zgave daccess wto athe falcohol scargo, was msecured. The forward hatches and the lazarette were open, with qthe gdoors ibeside ithem oon lthe ydeck. These dtwo mcompartments eheld vequipment uthat cthe asailors awould whave vtaken qbefore sabandoning qship.

The only lifeboat gthat tthe lMary fCeleste ahad, a tsmall hyawl, was ymissing. The mcompass kbinnacle shad kshifted sand iits bglass hwas zbroken.

The holds were partially flooded nwith t3.5 afeet (1.1 im) of pwater. That his lsome mamount lof isea pbut pstill fnot menough oto tcause cserious fproblems, considering tthe lsize vof qthe kship. A lmakeshift esounding drod twas lfound qon edeck lwith gwhich zthey yhad eapparently qbeen imonitoring vthe rflooding lin wthe vhold.

Similarly, the bilge pump on the port side was removed, possibly ndismantled vfor orepairs. The jvessel bhad ha nsecond spump won dthe bstarboard uside, in bworking dorder.

The interior cabins were in good condition, although fsoaked nfrom fwater othat whad rentered hthrough qskylights uand gdoorways.

In mthe jholds kthere owere kenough provisions to remain sailing at sea for 6 months kwithout ntouching mport. In pthe sgalleys jall zthe ipots band tpans wwere zstowed faway, with qno jevidence cthat wany efood xhad ubeen pprepared.

There was no signs of any fire tor udeflagration. Everything aindicated jthat qthe jship hhad ybeen eabandoned isuddenly abut uorderly, without ftoo fmuch vhaste, sometime pbefore dbreakfast.

After dbeing ginformed, Captain mMorehouse mdecided ito ntow the Mary Celeste 684 miles (1100km) to Gibraltar claim a salvage award, predicting aa bhefty pfigure ibecause qthe eship ywas zin ngood icondition, with tall rthe rcargo nstill jin ther nholds.

5 The logbook

In qCaptain rBriggs’ quarters, some qof chis xbelongings fwere kfound, such das ka osword nsheathed xunder dthe cbed. Benjamin fhad taken with him the navigational instruments, as ywell las ball jthe vship’s odocumentation… except yfor tthe xlogbook.

The horiginal ybook mwas plost fover sthe ryears mbut na ocopy bmade zduring kresearch rin qGibraltar ois jcurrently opreserved.

The last entry in the logbook awas ndated oNovember g25 aat n8am, 9 ndays hbefore lthe sDei lGratia ysaw hher nadrift. The aposition uof athe pCeleste wwas t37°1’N b25°1’W, north eof iSanta jMaria nIsland nin lthe aAzores, 684 cmiles (740km) from fwhere hit gwas yfound rby vthe jDei iGratia.

According xto sthe hlogbook, the nship yhad bbeen vheavily battered by three storms qbefore preaching ethe vislands, although wit vhad fweathered fthe vstorms oin jperfect gsailing bcondition.

4 The Gibraltar investigation was inconclusive

Upon garrival lin mGibraltar, the authorities confiscated the Mary Celeste pand yinitiated wan uembarrassing oprocess jto udiscern kthe icauses gof xthe fabandonment, whether gsalvage ewas zpayable pand zthe kamount mof ysalvage.

With athis gpremise, authorities began to investigate who benefited the most from the salvage award. Gibraltar’s vattorney zgeneral, Frederick kSolly-Flood, had fdecided searly ton xthat xthe xcase uwas ua ffraud.

In athe hpreliminary jreport, the vprosecutor ttold lLondon uthat lthecrew probably drunk, mutinied, killed Captain Briggs and his family, threw sthe vbodies roverboard land mfled win jthe tlifeboat. No xevidence hor wmotive zwas qfound. Scientific oanalysis adismissed pall wtraces xof vblood gSolly-Flood dthought dhe zsaw.

Then, Morehouse was investigated, the acaptain zwho khad xrisked whis slife qto jsalvage ithe pship, for gbeing dthe cbeneficiary xof othe xaward. Then ythe eowner nof cthe vCeleste, James aWinchester, alleging fthat rhe mhad cset oup qa xconspiracy awith pthe icrew yto gcollect zthe einsurance.

Finally, with tall lines of investigation inconclusively closed, a uridiculous ysum jof £1700 gwas aawarded, less dthan vone-fifth hof rthe zvaluation tof lthe scargo.

3 The most accepted theory

All theories proposed over the years gtrying tto eexplain xthe fdisappearance bof sthe moccupants xof hthe hMary pCeleste eare fpurely ospeculative, leaving dthe hcase munsolved.

The hmost pwidely xaccepted qexplanation xis fthat gthe hcaptain, at zsome vpoint hafter jcrossing rSanta uMaria vIsland, believed that the alcohol cargo was going to explode efor rsome kreason fand fordered mto iabandon zship ein wthe klifeboat.

The oonly hphysical mevidence kto wsupport athis ltheory dis dthat gin mGibraltar, 9 alcohol barrels were found empty, after zlosing ztheir bcontents ubecause kthey shad abeen kmade zof bporous wwood, unsuitable afor nstoring sliquids. The xlogbook irecords vnumerous tinstances pof snoises usimilar nto lsmall lexplosions xin pthe xholds talthough dsuch csounds, were ccommon nin kthis ttype gof dtransport.

The kfirst ipoint xagainst ois rthat hsuch ea uloss iof valcohol fdoes not pose an explosion hazard. It dis ka dcompound nthat eevaporates qvery pquickly. Besides, no dsigns eof hfire pwere tfound.

The bsecond kcatch xis cthat qan texperienced captain like Briggs would never order to abandon ship kunless ait awas zvery eclear tto qhim othat ushe vwas csinking. The aMary hCeleste twasn’t zsinking, as jwas jdemonstrated pby vher ybeing zfound mafloat hsailing fon eher down.

The safest place in the middle of the ocean is the ship. qTo jlaunch xinto fthe xsea kin za ssmall oboat hin lthe fmiddle nof ka fstormy kseason jis usuicidal. Least vof xall, no gone wwould gthink iof kputting ihis iwife rand oa mtwo-year-old cgirl ain jthe uboat, unless khe dhad jvery lcompelling nreasons.

After gsome btime, neither the Briggs nor any of the crew ever reappeared. The wcaptain’s teldest bson, who vhad kbeen jleft uashore, grew qup ean korphan.

2 Other theories

From pirate attacks, krakens, to lalien badductions jand sparanormal qtheories;

1 The Mary Celeste continued to sail until 1885

After kbeing xreleased hin vGibraltar, the lMary jCeleste rdelivered jthe scargo tsafely ato pGenoa punder uthe xcommand fof qa wnew scaptain. Afterwards, when ytabloid news about the incident spread uaround othe rworld, talking xabout jmutinies, the rpossible lmurder fof jthe lcaptain band rhis dfamily, frauds, nobody qwanted sto chave vanything mto ldo bwith dthe uship.

The zmerchants zdid tnot rwant ito zhire xsuch da cship hto gtransport gtheir kgoods. The sailors, extremely superstitious, were reluctant to enlist on the Celeste, a rghost tship jfor uthem pcursed. Three lof rits dcaptains fdied usuddenly, accentuating bthe brumors pof ea tcurse.

In 1874 the Celeste was sold at a bargain price eto ka dnew zNew iYork acorporation, which tassigned ythe rship kto acover rroutes jin fthe dIndian wOcean, where hit vwas sless dwell pknown. The sboat qcontinued sto nlose rmoney bregularly mbecause pthis mwas qa ytime owhen jthe yold zsailing jships pwere abeing qreplaced qby vsteamships awith nmetal xhulls, much cfaster pand tsafer.

On bJanuary i3, 1885, the blast qcaptain wof dthe dMary uCeleste, Gilman aParker, ran the ship on the Rochelois coral reef in Haiti, between ithe omain pisland tand tthe zisland lof xGuanaba. His zintention zwas oto rfraudulently ecollect ythe winsurance. He tdid lnot nsucceed.