The Ghost Ship
The Mary Celeste sailed out of New York
during November 1872, headed for Genoa in Italy. Aboard the American ship was
Captain Benjamin S. Briggs and his family: wife Sarah, and their daughter,
two-year-old Sophia. Eight other crew members boarded the Mary Celeste with the
family, unaware of what awaited them.
Weeks later in December, a passing ship
from Britain, the Dei Gratica, noticed another vessel floating off the
coast of Azores, with no sign of life onboard. The ship was at full sail,
drifting unmanned through the choppy seas. The captain of the Dei Gratica,
David Morehouse, was shocked to discover that the ship was the Mary Celeste,
which to his knowledge should have already arrived in Italy, as it had left
eight days before him. After watching the vessel for a while, and receiving no
form of contact from its crew, Morehouse sent a group of his crew to go aboard.
The boarding crew discovered that the ship was still loaded with six-months’
worth of food and supplies, which remained untouched. One lifeboat was missing,
and there was just over three feet of water below deck, which suggested the
crew had fled in fear of sinking. However, a captain only abandons his ship if
the threat is immediate, and the Mary Celeste was still fit to sail. The last
entry in the ship’s log book was November 25, at five in the morning, the time
in which it came to be believed that the Briggs family and their crew had
abandoned ship.
The British crew aboard the Dei Gratica took the issue to an admiralty courtroom, hoping to receive some of the ship’s insurance. The attorney general, however, only granted them 1/6th of the Mary Celeste’s $46 000 insurance, after some investigation into the Dei Gratica’s crew. He suspected them of having played a role in the disappearance of Briggs and his crew. Two crew members, German brothers by the name of Lorenzen, were treated as suspicious because everyone else had left possessions on the Mary Celeste except them. Their decedents were interviewed to determine whether the brothers were likely to have played a part in the Briggs’ disappearance. However, it was believed by one decedent that they had lost their possessions during a voyage early in 1872, when their ship had been wrecked.
The British crew aboard the Dei Gratica took the issue to an admiralty courtroom, hoping to receive some of the ship’s insurance. The attorney general, however, only granted them 1/6th of the Mary Celeste’s $46 000 insurance, after some investigation into the Dei Gratica’s crew. He suspected them of having played a role in the disappearance of Briggs and his crew. Two crew members, German brothers by the name of Lorenzen, were treated as suspicious because everyone else had left possessions on the Mary Celeste except them. Their decedents were interviewed to determine whether the brothers were likely to have played a part in the Briggs’ disappearance. However, it was believed by one decedent that they had lost their possessions during a voyage early in 1872, when their ship had been wrecked.
Ever since the Mary Celeste was found
floating near Azores, many people have theorised about the fate of her crew.
Some believed that it was a tale of mutiny, perhaps connected to the Lorenzen
brothers, and others thought they were swallowed by a giant octopus, or
attacked by sea monsters. The most obvious conclusion was that the Mary Celeste
found herself under siege by pirates, however the ship’s supplies and all
valuables left behind by the Briggs family and their crew remained untouched.
This theory was ruled out, and people began to wonder if fumes of the 1700
containers of pure alcohol below deck had caused the crew to flee, in fear of
an explosion. However, this is also not likely, as the Dei Gratica crew did not
find any fumes whatsoever on the Mary Celeste. After investigating the captain’s
quarters, however, they found blood smeared across the floor.
Captain Briggs had left his seven-year-old
son at home in Massachusetts so that he would not miss going to school. Anne
MacGregor, who is researching the disappearance of the Mary Celeste’s crew,
investigated the character of Benjamin Briggs through interviewing his
descendants. All the investigation amounted to, was that it was not in his character
to act irrationally. MacGregor concluded that the ship, after carrying coal on
previous journeys, was found with clogged water pumps. This explains the two
water pumps that were found dissembled. However, what remains a mystery is why
Briggs would abandon ship. After studying the ship’s log book, researchers have
found that the Mary Celeste was caught in rough weather, which caused Briggs to
wander off course. The land he had recorded having seen in the log book’s final
entry was much further away than he had thought. So how long had the crew rowed
for, and where did they end up? As time progresses, it seems less and less likely that the remains of Benjamin S. Briggs, his wife, their daughter Sophie, or their eight crew members will ever be discovered. Their fate will forever remain one of the greatest mysteries of the sea.
Side note -
Movies and books have been written about the Mary Celeste ever since her crew’s disappearance, including one by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes. A horror movie has also been made about the ghost ship, as well as one episode of Dr. Who.
Movies and books have been written about the Mary Celeste ever since her crew’s disappearance, including one by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes. A horror movie has also been made about the ghost ship, as well as one episode of Dr. Who.
Sources:
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