Mary Celeste

This article is about the ship. For the album, see Mary Celeste (album).

An 1861 painting of Amazon (later renamed Mary Celeste) by an unknown artist (perhaps Honoré Pellegrin)
History
British North America
Name	Amazon
Owner	Joshua Dewis, William Henry Bigalow and six other local investors
Port of registry	Parrsboro, Nova Scotia
Builder	Joshua Dewis
Laid down	1860
Launched	May 1861
Identification	ICS: JFWN
Fate	Ran aground Glace Bay, Nova Scotia 1867, salvaged and sold to American owners
Notes	Official number 376712
History
United States
Name	Amazon (1868) Mary Celeste (1869-1885)
Namesake	Mary Celeste
Owner	James H. Winchester (first American owner); G. C. Parker (last owner)
Port of registry	New York
Builder	Rebuilt New York, 1872
Launched	May 1871
Fate	Found abandoned near Azores 1872; intentionally sunk off Haiti 1885.
General characteristics
Tonnage	198 Gross Tons as built 1861 282 Gross Tons after rebuild 1872
Length	99.3 ft (30.3 m) as built, 107 ft (33 m) after rebuild
Beam	22.5 ft (6.9 m) as built, 26.6 after rebuild
Depth	11.7 ft (3.6 m) as built, 16.2 ft (4.9 m) after rebuild
Decks	1, as built, 2 after rebuild
Sail plan	Brigantine

Mary Celeste was an American merchant brigantine which was discovered on December 5, 1872 in the Atlantic Ocean, unmanned and apparently abandoned by her captain and crew. The lifeboat was missing, together with navigational instruments and the ship's papers. When found ten days after the final entry in her sea log, Mary Celeste was in seaworthy condition and under partial sail. She had left New York for Genoa a month previously, and had more than six months' worth of food and water on board. Her cargo was virtually untouched and the crew's personal belongings including valuables that were still in place. There were no obvious signs of violence or other calamity that might explain the abandonment.

The ship was brought into Gibraltar by the crew of the Dei Gratia, a British brigantine. At the subsequent salvage hearings the court considered a number of theories to explain the abandonment, including piracy, alcohol-fuelled mutiny by Mary Celeste's crew, and collusion between the captains of Mary Celeste and Dei Gratia to carry out a fraudulent salvage operation. No evidence was found to support these theories, but a degree of suspicion continued to hang over the captain and crew of Dei Gratia, and this was reflected in the relatively low proportion (about one-fifth) of the value of ship and cargo awarded to them as salvors. The inconclusive nature of the court hearings helped to foster continuous speculation as to the real reasons behind the abandonment, and the story has repeatedly been embellished with false detail and by fictionalisation. Hypotheses that have been advanced include, besides human actions, the effects of alcohol fumes, underwater earthquakes, waterspouts, attacks by giant squid, and paranormal intervention related to the Bermuda triangle. None of those on board were ever seen or heard from again, and their disappearance has been cited as one of the greatest maritime mysteries of all time.

Mary Celeste began her career under British registration, as Amazon, in 1861, transferring to American registration and a new name in 1868. She suffered several misfortunes during her 24-year career, and was sometimes said to be cursed, although for most of her active years she worked unsensationally and without mishap. In 1885, she was destroyed when her last owners deliberately wrecked her off the coast of Haiti, in an attempt to commit insurance fraud. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of her crew has been dramatized many times, in novels, plays and films, and the name of the ship has become synonmous with unexplained abandonment.

Early history

Amazon

Spencer's Island, photographed in 2011

The keel of the ship that would eventually be known as the Mary Celeste was laid in the fall of 1860, at the shipyard of Joshua Dewis in the village of Spencer's Island, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The yard was a pioneering venture; the ship was its first construction, and at the time equipment and facilities were very limited. The ship was built of locally felled timber: birch, beech and maple for the lower hull, spruce for the upper hull and pine for the cabin and fittings. She was rigged as a brigantine, with two masts; the hull was carvel-built, with the planking flush rather than overlapping. She was launched on May 18, 1861, given the name Amazon, and registered at Parrsboro, the nearest port of registration, on June 10. Her registration documents showed that she was 99.3 feet (30.3 m) in length, 25.5 feet (7.8 m) broad, with a depth of 11.7 feet (3.6 m). Her gross tonnage was registered as 198.42. Her original owners were a consortium of nine, headed by Dewis who held a one-quarter share. Among the consortium members was Robert McLellan, the ship's first captain, whose share was one-sixteenth.

According to some accounts, the launching of Amazon was problematic; her new, unseasoned timbers stuck on the slipway, and she reached the water only with much difficulty and delay. In his history of the Mary Celeste, Paul Begg identifies the source of this story as Robert Dewis, the son of Joshua, who was on board at the time. However, George Spicer, who later served as Amazon's mate and was also present, denied for the rest of his life that any mishaps had taken place at the launching. Begg surmises that the story of a failed launch may have been a myth, arising from a 20th century assumption that the ship was jinxed.

There are conflicting details about Amazon's maiden voyage, which began shortly after the launching. According to the historian Charles Edey Fay, the trip took her first to the port of Windsor, Nova Scotia where she was loaded with plaster for transport to New York. Spicer, however, as reported by Begg, says that the first port of call was Five Islands, where Amazon took on a cargo of timber to be taken across the Atlantic to London. Each account agrees that after supervising the ship's loading, Captain McLellan fell ill; his condition worsened, and Amazon returned to Spencer's Island where McLellan died on June 19. John Nutting Parker took over as captain, and continued McLellan's voyage. The "London" version includes a story from Robert Dewis that in the course of its journey Amazon collided with a fishing boat in the narrows off Eastport, Maine, and encountered further misadventures on the other side of the Atlantic when she ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel.

Parker remained in command for two years, during which Amazon worked mainly in the West Indies trade, with a single transatlantic voyage, to France, in November 1861. In Marseilles she was the subject of a painting, possibly by Honoré de Pellegrin, a well-known maritime artist of the Marseilles School. Parker left the ship in 1863, and the part-owner William Thompson took the captaincy, remaining in command until 1867. Spicer, who was by this time Amazon's mate, recalled that during these years "we went to the West Indies, England and the Mediterranean—what we call the foreign trade. Not a thing unusual happened". In the fall of 1867 Spicer left the ship; in October of that year, at Cape Breton Island, Amazon was driven ashore in a storm, and was so badly damaged that her owners abandoned her as a wreck. On October 15 she was acquired as a derelict by Alexander McBean, described as a "gentleman", of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.

New owners, new name

McBean did not remain the owner for long; within a month he had sold the wreck to John Howard Beatty, also of Big Glace. At some date in 1868 Beatty sold on to Richard W. Haines, an American mariner from New York. Haines paid $1,750 for the wreck, and a further $8,825 to repair her. He became her captain, and in December 1868 successfully applied to the Collector of Customs in New York to have the vessel registered as an American ship, under a new name, Mary Celeste. The reason for this choice of name is obscure; Begg points out that Maria Celeste was an illegitimate daughter of the astronomer Galileo, which may have influenced Haines. Begg also mentions the unsubstantiated theory that the intended name, "Mary Sellars", was misheard. The American registration documents show slightly altered ships details: length is now recorded as 98.5 feet (30.0 m), breadth 25 feet (7.6 m), depth 11.6 feet (3.5 m) and tonnage 206.28.

In October 1869 Haines sold the ship to a New York consortium headed by James H. Winchester. During the next three years the composition of the consortium and the size of individal shares changed several times, although Winchester retained at least a half-share in the vessel throughout. On selling the ship, Haines was succeeded as captain by Walter Johnson, who in turn gave way in January 1870 to Rufus W. Fowler. There is no record of Mary Celeste's trading activities during this period. In 1872 the ship underwent a major refit, costing $10,000, which considerably enlarged her. Her length was increased to 103 feet (31 m), her breadth to 25.7 feet (7.8 m) and her depth to 16.2 feet (4.9 m). Among the structural changes a second deck was added; an inspector's report refers to extensions to the poop, new transoms and the replacement of many timbers. After the work the ship's tonnage was increased to 282.28. On October 29, 1872 the revised ownership was registered as Winchester one half, Sylvester Goodwin one-twelfth and Daniel T. Samson one twelfth. The remaining third share was acquired by an experienced New England master mariner, Benjamin Spooner Briggs.

Captain Briggs and crew

Benjamin Briggs was born in Wareham, Massachusetts on April 24, 1835, one of five sons of Nathan Briggs, a sea-captain, and his wife Sophia. All but one of the sons went to sea, two becoming captains in their turn. In a family memoir, Nathan's kinsman Oliver Cobb wrote that Nathan was "a Spartan father when it came to having his sons on shipboard. They had to do the regular work of sailors ...The captain expected his boy to be the first man aloft in an emergency. In addition to this, the boy had regular lessons to study: navigation, geography, history, literature There was no idleness on these voyages". Benjamin adopted his familiy's moral and religious principles, was a regular Bible reader would often testify his faith at paryer gatherings. He made good progress in his seafaring career, and by 1862, the year in which he married his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, he was an established sea-captain, in command of the schooner Forest King on which he and Sarah enjoyed a Mediterranean honeymoon. Two children were born: a son, Arthur, in September 1865, and a daughter, Sophia Matilda, in October 1870.

After the Forest King, Briggs had command of the barque Arthur. He was highly regarded in his profession in the ports in which he traded, being described by an acquaintance in Boston as having "a good character as a Christian and as an intelligent and active shipmaster". However, not long after Sophia's birth, he decided to retire from the sea and go into business ashore with his brother Oliver, also a sea-captain who had also grown tired of the wandering life. For reasons unknown they did not proceed with this project. Instead, each invested his savings in a share of a ship: Oliver in the Julia A. Hallock, and Benjamin in his one-third share of Mary Celeste. Benjamin also agreed that he would captain Mary Celeste on her first outing following her extensive refit, a long voyage to Genoa in Italy. His wife and infant daughter would accompany him, while his son, who was of school age, would be left at home with his grandmother.

Begg observes that it can reasonably be assumed that for this voyage, with his wife and daughter on board, Briggs would take considerable care in choosing his crew, and ther is nothing known to the detriment of any of the seven men he selected. The first mate, Albert G. Richardson, was married to a niece of James H. Winchester, the vessel's principal owner. He came from a seafaring family, had served in the American Civil War, and was 28 years old in 1872. Wincheater described him as a man of excellent character; he had sailed under Briggs before. and the two were on good terms. Nothing much is known about the second mate, Andrew Gilling beyond that he was aged 25, was born in New York, and appeared to have a Danish mother. The steward was Edward William Head, aged 23, married just before Mary Celeste sailed. He was said by Winchester to be respected by all who knew him. The four general seaman were all Germans from the Frisian Islands: the brothers Volkert and Boz Lorenzen, Arian Martens and Gottleib Goodschaad. A later testimonial to the Lorenzen brothers and Martens declared that they were "peaceable and first-class sailors". The complement of eight, including the captain, accorded exactly with the recommendations of a recent Seaman's Congress for sailing vessels of around 200 tons. In a letter to his mother shortly before the voyage, Briggs declared himself eminently satisfied with ship and crew and expressed the hope for a pleasant voyage. Sarah Briggs informed her mother: "Benjamin thinks that we have got a pretty peaceable set this time all round, if they continue as they have begun".

Abandoned

New York

A painting of New York harbor in the 19th century

In October 1872 Mary Celeste was taken to New York to prepare for her transatlantic voyage, and was moored at Pier 50 on the East River. On October 20, Briggs arrived to supervise the loading of the cargo for Genoa—1,700 barrels of crude alcohol. A week later he was joined by his wife and baby daughter, who resided on board while the loading was completed. Sarah Briggs had brought with her various personal items, including a sewing-machine and a melodeon. On Sunday November 3, Briggs wrote to his mother, telling her that the loading had been completed the previous day and that he intended to leave on Tuesday. "Our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shall have a fine passage, but as I have never been in her before can't say how she'll sail". On the Monday, Briggs signed the Articles of Agreement and the official crew list, at the offices of the United States Shipping Commissioner and made final arrangements for the insurance of the cargo.

On Tuesday morning, November 5, Marie Celeste left Pier 50 and moved into New York harbor. The weather was unpromising, and Briggs decided to wait for a better outlook. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island, where Sarah used the delay to send a final letter to her mother-in-law, in which she wrote: "Tell Arthur I make great dependence on the letter I shall get from him, and will try to remember anything that happens on the voyage which he would be pleased to hear". On November 7, when the weather eased, Marie Celeste finally left the harbour and went out into the Atlantic.

While Mary Celeste prepared to sail, another brigantine, the British-registered Dei Gratia lay in New York harbor, awaiting a cargo of petroleum for transport to Gibraltar. Her captain, David Morehouse, and his first mate Oliver Deveau, were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen. Dei Gratia eventually left New York on November 15, eight days after Mary Celeste. As fellow-captains with common interests it is possible, as Hastings points out, that Morehouse and Briggs knew each other, if only casually. According to some accounts they were close friends, who on the evening before Mary Celeste's departure dined together, along with their wives.

Derelict

A contemporary woodcut of the Mary Celeste sailing as a derelict, December 1872

On Wednesday December 4, 1872 land time (Thursday December 5 sea time), Dei Gratia was closing in on the European mainland, having reached 38°20'N, 17°15'W. At about 1.pm Morehouse, or his helmsman, noticed a vessel about six miles (10 kilometres) distant, on the port side. The vessel was heading westward, towards Dei Gratia; something about her movement, and the set of her sails, led Morehouse to suspect that something was wrong, a view shared by first mate Deveau. When the ships were about 300 yards apart Morehouse hailed the stranger, but receiving no reply he sent Deveau and second mate John Wright over in a small boat, to investigate. The vessel's name, they saw, was Mary Celeste. After climbing aboard, they searched the ship but found no one on board. The sails, partly set, were in a poor condition, some having blown away altogether, and much of the rigging was damaged. The main hatch cover was secure, but the fore and lazaret hatches were open, their covers beside them on the deck. The ship's single lifeboat, which had been stowed across the main hatch, was missing; The binnacle housing the ship's compass and other navigational instruments was out of its place, its glass broken and the compass destroyed. There was about 3.5 feet (1.1 m) of water in the hold; a makeshift sounding rod was found on the deck indicating that a sounding had perhaps taken place before the ship was abandoned.

The last entry on ship's log slate, found in the mate's cabin, was timed and dated at 8.00am on 25 November, nine days previously. It showed Mary Celeste's position at that time as 37°01'N, 25°01'W, off Santa Maria Island in the Azores, nearly 400 nautical miles (740 km) west of the point where Dei Gratia encountered her. Deveau discovered that most of the ship's papers, together with the captain's navigational instruments, were missing, but that otherwise the interior cabins were in reasonable order, other than from water which had entered through open doorways and skylights. Personal items of significant value were scattered about the captain's cabin, including a sheathed sword which Deveau found under the bed. Galley equipment was neatly stowed away; there was no food prepared or under preparation, but there was ample provisions and water in the stores. There were no signs of fire, or of violence. The evidence pointed to a rapid but orderly abandonment of the ship, by means of the missing lifeboat.

Deveau reported these findings to Morehouse who, with some misgivings, agreed to bring the derelict into Gibraltar, a distance of 600 nautical miles (1,100 km). Under maritime law, a salvor might be awarded a substantial share of the combined value of the vessel and its cargo, depending on the degree of danger inherent in the operation. Dei Gratia's complement of eight was divided between the two vessels; Deveau and two experienced Mary Celeste seamen were assigned to Mary Celeste, while Morehouse and four others remained with Dei Gratia. The ships were made ready, and on the next day, 6 December, they set off for Gibraltar. The weather was relatively calm for most of the way, but with each ship seriously undermanned, progress was slow. Dei Gratia reached Gibraltar at around 4.00pm on 12 December, and Mary Celeste, which had encountered fog, arrived on the following morning. She was immediately impounded by the Vice admiralty court, preparatory to the hearings on the salvage claim. Deveau wrote to his wife that the ordeal of bringing the ship in had made him so tired that "I can hardly tell what I am made of, but I do not care so long as I got in safe. I shall be well paid for the Mary Celeste".

Gibraltar hearings

An investigation was held in the vice admiralty court in Gibraltar under Sir James Cochrane, to determine the circumstances of Mary Celeste and apportion marine salvage rights.

During the sitting of the vice admiralty court, the judge praised the crew of Dei Gratia for their courage and skill. The Advocate General of Gibraltar, Frederick Solly Flood, in his role as Queen's Proctor to the court, deemed it necessary to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the vessel and determine the causes of its abandonment in the middle of the ocean. Copies of the several log entries were made. The inquiry lasted three months and attracted media attention worldwide.

Mary Celeste was visited by John Austin, surveyor of shipping in Gibraltar, and he was assisted by an inspector, John McCabe. A local diver and marine expert, Ricardo Portunato, was sent to make a detailed examination of the exterior of the hull on the behalf of the vice admiralty court. Austin discovered what he believed to be a few spots of blood in the captain's cabin, an "uncleaned" ornamental cutlass in Briggs's cabin, a knife (without blood), and a deep gash on a railing that he determined had been made with a blunt object or an axe, but he did not find such a weapon on board. Portunato believed the damage was recent. Part of his testimony reads:

Affidavit of Ricardo Portunato, Diver
In the Vice Admiralty Court of Gibraltar. The Queen in Her Office of Admiralty Ag't. - The Ship or Vessel name unknown supposed to be called the Mary Celeste and her Cargo found derelict.
I, Ricardo Portunato of the City of Gibraltar, Diver make oath and say as follows:
1. I did on Monday the 23rd day of Decbr. last by direction of Thomas Joseph Vecchio Esqr. Marshal of their Honble. Court and of Mr. John Austin Surveyor of Shipping for the port of Gibraltar proceed to a ship or vessel rigged as a Brigantine and supposed to be the Mary Celeste then moored in the port of Gibraltar and under arrest in pursuance of a warrant out of their Honble. Court as having been found derelict on the high Seas for the purpose of examining the State and condition of the hull of the said vessel below her water line and of ascertaining if possible whether she had sustained any damage or injury from a collision or from having struck upon any rock or shoal or otherwise howsoever.
2. I accordingly minutely and carefully examined the whole of the hull of the said vessel and the stern keel, stern post and rudder thereof.
3. They did not nor did any or either of them exhibit any trace of damage or injury or any other appearances whatsoever indicating that the said vessel had had any collision or had struck upon any rock or shoal or had met with any accident or casualty. The hull Stern, [sic] keel Sternpost and rudder of the said vessel were thoroughly in good order and condition.
4. The said vessel was coppered the copper was in good condition and order and I am of opinion that if she had met with any such accident or casualty I shld. have been able to discover and shld. have discovered some marks or traces thereof but I was not able to discover and did not discover any.

Horatio J. Sprague, Consul of the United States in Gibraltar, also wanted an investigation because American citizens were missing in the Mary Celeste incident and it was possible that they had been murdered. He immediately asked for a visit to the ship by his personal representative, United States Navy Captain R. W. Shufeldt of the frigate USS Plymouth. Shufeldt's brief visit aboard Mary Celeste led him to challenge the report of his British colleagues. For him, the cuts were mere scratches that could have been caused by anything, and the "traces of blood" did not appear to be blood to him, but rather, were rust. "Blood" seen on an "uncleaned" sword also was rust according to Sprague and Shufeldt, who conducted scientific tests on the substance, to prove it was rust. There was no evidence of piracy or foul play, nor of mutiny, struggle, or violence.

Eventually, the salvagers received payment, amounting to one-sixth of the $46,000 ($957,000 in current money) insurance covering the ship and its cargo, indicating that the authorities were suspicious of the Dei Gratia crew. The commercial alcohol remaining aboard Mary Celeste, being heavily insured, was sailed to Genoa by George W. Blatchford, as originally intended (as previously stated nine barrels were found to be empty on being unloaded).

The results of the commission of inquiry encouraged authorities in Washington, D.C. to send instructions to all consuls and officers in their ports to report anyone matching the description of Briggs or other crew members of Mary Celeste, or any group that could have landed sailors belonging to the Mary Celeste. Word also was sent to look for any of the items missing from Mary Celeste, such as the two pumps or her navigation equipment. No information was reported. Locals at ports in the Azores were questioned as well, but none was able to provide assistance.

Later history and fate

Of all the unlucky vessels I ever heard of, she was the most unlucky.

—David Cartwright, an owner of the ship

James Winchester considered selling Mary Celeste after the mysterious event for which she was now notable. Later, his mind was made up after the vessel claimed the life of his father, Henry Winchester-Vinters, who drowned in an accident in Boston, Massachusetts, when she was brought back to America. Winchester then sold Mary Celeste at an enormous loss. Over the next 13 years, the ship changed hands 17 times. By then, Mary Celeste was in very poor condition.

Map of Haiti showing the Island of Gonâïve

Her last captain and owner, G. C. Parker, reportedly made no profit whatsoever and deliberately wrecked Mary Celeste in an attempt to commit insurance fraud in the Caribbean Sea on 3 January 1885. She was loaded with an over-insured cargo of scrap, including boots and cat food. The plan did not work, as the ship failed to sink after being run onto Rochelais reef, located off the western coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and south of Gonâve Island. Parker then tried to burn the wreck, but the vessel remained intact even following the fire, although the ship's log was destroyed thereby, along with Benjamin Briggs' prior entries in it.

Parker then filed an exorbitant claim for a cargo that never existed. A subsequent investigation revealed the fraud. Parker sold the salvage rights for $500, claiming that there were 125 casks of Bass ale on board, 975 barrels of herring, and $1000 in cutlery among other items although none of these items were on board. The ship and its cargo was insured by five companies for a total of $34,000.

Captain Parker was arrested and put on trial for barratry (the intentional destruction of a vessel). At the time, the sentence for doing so was death. Jurors routinely refused to convict people of this crime, however, due to the death penalty. So despite the clear evidence of the fraud and of Parker's guilt, the jury deadlocked, with five of the twelve jurors refusing to send him to death. That law was revised three years later so that it was no longer a capital offence.

Despite Parker's acquittal, nearly everyone indicted for actions related to the shipwreck went bust. Captain Parker died three months later. The partially burnt hulk of Mary Celeste was deemed beyond repair.

The tradition about the ship indicates that she was left to slip off the shoal and sink. On 9 August 2001, an expedition headed by author Clive Cussler (representing the National Underwater and Marine Agency) and Canadian film producer John Davis along with divers from the Nova Scotian company, EcoNova, announced that they had found the remains of the brigantine where Parker had wrecked her. A detailed magnetometer survey of the bay, off the Isle de Gonâve, revealed that only one shipwreck was present—and that it had run onto Rochelois Reef with great force. The damaged coral from its impact delineated a battered channel with the wreck firmly set onto the reef. A maritime archaeologist, James P. Delgado, identified the wreck as Mary Celeste based on the location (18.641238 N, 73.206750 W), the fact that no other wreck was present in the bay, and by analyzing vessel fastenings, ballast, timber, and evidence of the fire. All of the evidence, including a mix of Nova Scotian and New England, and Southern U.S. timbers matched the wreck with historical accounts of Mary Celeste.

Another researcher has disputed Cussler's claim. Scott St. George of the University of Minnesota and formerly of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona, analyzed samples from pine wood fragments recovered from the site in order to reconstruct the year the timber in question had been harvested, using dendrochronology. Based on this method, St. George concluded that the wood had been cut from trees still living at least a decade after Mary Celeste sank, putting the authenticity and identification of this shipwreck in question. St. George's reconstruction of several fragments to assemble a tree ring sequence also has been questioned.

Speculation and theories

Since her discovery in 1872, many theories have been proposed to explain the mystery of the Mary Celeste.

Vapour emission from barrels of alcohol

All of the most plausible explanations are based on the barrels of alcohol. Captain Briggs had never hauled such a dangerous cargo before and did not trust it. This idea was put forth by the major shareholder of the ship, James Winchester, and is the most widely accepted explanation for the crew's disappearance.

Nine of the 1,701 barrels of alcohol in the hold later were discovered to be empty. Those nine had been made of red oak, not white oak as were the others. Red oak is more porous than white oak and thus, more likely to emit vapor. This could have caused a build-up of vapour in the hold. Poorly secured barrels could rub against each other and friction between the steel bands on the barrels could cause sparks. At one point, the possibility of explosion, however remote, might have panicked the crew into abandoning ship.

Historian Conrad Byers believes that Captain Briggs ordered the hold to be opened, resulting in a violent escape of fumes and steam. Believing his ship was about to explode, the theory continues, the captain ordered everyone into the lifeboat, failing to properly secure it to the ship with a strong towline. The wind could have picked up and blown the ship away from them. The rope failed. Byers believes that those in the lifeboat could have drowned or died of hunger, thirst, or exposure.

A refinement of this theory was proposed in 2005 by a German journalist, Eigel Wiese. At his suggestion, Dr. Andrea Sella at University College London created a reconstruction of the ship's hold in 2006 to test the theory of the ignition of the alcohol vapours. Using butane as the fuel and paper cubes as the barrels, the reconstructed hold was sealed and the vapours ignited. The force of the resulting explosion blew the hold doors open and shook the scale model. Ethanol burns at a relatively low temperature with a flash point of 13 °C or 55.4 °F. Only a minimal spark is needed, for example, from two metal objects rubbing together, but none of the paper cubes in the Sella experiment were damaged, or even scorched. This theory may explain why the remaining cargo in the Mary Celeste was found intact and that the fracture on the ship's rail could have been made by one of the hold doors as it blew open. Perhaps, this fire in the hold could have been violent enough to frighten the captain and the crew into lowering the boat, but the flames would not have been hot enough to leave burn marks. “What we created was a pressure-wave type of explosion,” says Sella. “There was a spectacular wave of flame but, behind it, was relatively cool air. No soot was left behind and there was no burning or scorching."

Brian Dunning in a Skeptoid podcast on this subject adds, "The ethanol vapors in the Mary Celeste's hold would burn even cooler and quicker than butane, though probably much less dramatically, with a blue or invisible flame, unlike the butane's yellow flash. But it certainly would have been every bit as alarming to the crew, if it had happened."

A frayed rope trailing in the water behind the ship suggests that the crew remained attached to the ship in the lifeboat, hoping the emergency would pass. The ship was abandoned while under full sail, and a storm was recorded shortly thereafter. It is possible that the rope to the lifeboat frayed because of the force from the ship under full sail. A small boat in a storm would not have fared so well as the Mary Celeste. This explanation was expounded in a 2008 investigation and television documentary that both featured and satisfied one of the descendants of the original ship's captain.

In recent books, Brian Hicks and Stanley Spicer revived the theory that Captain Briggs opened the hold to ventilate it while the ship was unable to move through the lack of wind. The release of noxious alcohol fumes from the hold might have panicked the captain and crew into abandoning ship for the yawl tied to the halyard by an inadequate rope. If this broke during a weather change and consequent wind, that could easily explain the sudden and mysterious exit from the ship. Hicks claims that the cargo was a different material, methanol, which is toxic. The records do not support this.

This theory's main flaw comes from the fact that the boarding party found the main cargo hatch secured.

Piracy

One contemporary reporter for the New York Times suggested that Mary Celeste may have fallen victim to an act of piracy, the crew murdered, and thrown overboard, as Ottoman pirates had been known to operate in the area. However, there were no signs of violence on Mary Celeste. Only common navigation equipment was missing. It is unlikely that pirates would fail to remove the cargo or the crew's valuables after killing the crew.

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. This theory is strongly discredited by the fact Briggs had no "tyrannical" history to suggest he was a type of captain who might have provoked 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

After the admiralty court proceeding, Solly-Flood 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 erased their tracks to give the illusion of having disappeared, then they would have left in a lifeboat.

However, the captain was a teetotaller and unlikely to tolerate drinking on board or a crew inclined to drink alcohol. Once again, there was no trace of struggle or violence aboard the vessel, and the crew had good records.

Premature abandonment

A 2007 Smithsonian television documentary proposed the theory that Briggs became convinced that the ship could not proceed safely to Italy, perhaps when he discovered (by failing to see Europe when expected) that the chronometer was running slowly. This might have led him to think that he was much farther east than he was. One of the two bilge pumps was choked with foreign matter (coal dust from a previous cargo, wooden debris dropped by carpenters working on the ship in port, or both) in the bilge water. As a result he may have overestimated greatly how much water was in the bilge. This theory proposes that Briggs, his family, and the crew, believing that the bilge pumps indicated that the ship was sinking, departed the ship in the lifeboat and headed for Santa Maria Island at the southeast end of the Azores; but that en route to Santa Maria, the lifeboat sank and never reached shore.

In popular culture

In popular culture, the mystery of the Mary Celeste has been used frequently as an icon by writers of fiction. This may take the form of direct adaptations of the story, or stories based on the idea of an abandoned ship, inspired by the Mary Celeste incident.

A fictional depiction by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is credited as popularising the Mary Celeste mystery. In "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", printed anonymously in the January 1884 Cornhill Magazine, Conan Doyle presented his theory on what had happened. Doyle drew very heavily on facts surrounding the real event, but included a considerable amount of fiction, calling the fictional ship Marie Celeste, and claiming that no lifeboats were missing ("The boats were intact and slung upon the davits"). Much of Doyle's fictional content and the incorrect name—have come to dominate popular accounts of the real incident—and were even published as fact by several newspapers.

In 1913 a purported explanation of the mystery appeared in the monthly fiction magazine, The Strand Magazine, under the title, Abel Fosdyk's Story. This account was ostensibly the "true" story of Abel Fosdyk, sole survivor of Mary Celeste. It differs in certain respects from the known facts of the case and generally, is accepted to be a literary hoax.

The first film version of Doyle's fictional story was the now rare 1935 British film entitled, The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (also known as The Phantom Ship). This film presented a non-supernatural explanation of the event.

A 1938 short film entitled The Ship That Died presents dramatisations of a range of theories (mutiny, fear of explosion due to alcohol fumes, and the supernatural).

The 1956 novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes is loosely based on the fate of this ship. A film adaptation was made in 1959.

The Doctor Who serial The Chase (1965) suggested that the arrival of time-travelling Daleks caused the terrified crew of this ship to jump overboard. In the 1983 episode Mawdryn Undead, a derelict spaceship is linked to the Mary Celeste. It was also referenced in the show's spin-off, "The Sarah Jane Adventures" in the episode "The Last Sontaran".

The ship was mentioned in episode one of the Japanese drama, Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo 3.

In the Image Comics graphic novel Who Is Jake Ellis? the lead character's mysterious past is referred to as "the CIA's Mary Celeste".

In The Goon Show episode titled "The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (solved)", written by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes and originally broadcast in November 1954, the Marie Celeste mystery is solved.

In "Warehouse 13", a television science fiction series, a pulley block from the Mary Celeste creates growing lengths of rope that come alive and coils around people. In the tie-in comic by Dynamite Entertainment issue #3 reveals the entire ship is kept in the warehouse.

Commemoration

At Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia, the Mary Celeste and her lost crew are commemorated by a monument at the site of the brigantine's construction and by a memorial outdoor theatre built in the shape of the vessel's hull. The ship's origins and fate are explored in an exhibit nearby, the Age of Sail Heritage Centre. At the hometown of Benjamin Briggs in Marion, Massachusetts, the Sippican Historical Society maintains a permanent Mary Celeste exhibit with artifacts from the brigantine's final voyage.

Ship's records

The crew and passengers of the vessel are listed in the ship's records reproduced from the original in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Crew

Name	Status	Nationality	Age
Benjamin S. Briggs	Captain	American	37
Albert G. Richardson	Mate	American	28
Andrew Gilling	2nd Mate	Danish	25
Edward Wm Head	Steward and Cook	American	23
Volkert Lorenzen	Seaman	German	29
Arian Martens	Seaman	German	35
Boy Lorenzen	Seaman	German	23
Gottlieb Goudeschaal	Seaman	German	23

Passengers

Name	Status	Age
Sarah Elizabeth Briggs	Captain's wife	30
Sophia Matilda Briggs	The Captain's daughter	2

Notes and references

Sources

• Begg, Paul (2007). Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4058-3621-0.
• Cobb, Oliver W. (1968). Rose Cottage. New Bedford. MA: Reynolds-DeWalt Publishers. Originally published in 1940 by Easthampton News, Easthampton MA, OCLC 1830727
• Fay, Charles Edey (1988). The Story of the Mary Celeste. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-4862-5730-3. Revised edition of book originally published by Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts in 1942.
• Fanthorpe, Lionel; Fanthorpe, Patricia (1997). The World's Greatest Unsolved Mysteries. Toronto: Hounslow Press. ISBN 978-0-8888-2194-2.
• Hastings, Macdonald (1972). Mary Celeste. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-1024-2.

Further reading

• The Saga of the Mary Celeste: Ill-Fated Mystery Ship, Stanley T. Spicer. ISBN 0-88999-546-X
• Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and her Missing Crew, Brian Hicks. ISBN 0-345-46391-9
• The "Mary Celeste", John Maxwell. ISBN 87-15-01118-6

External links

• BBC News story about the discovery of the wreck
• NUMA site with photos and video of the wreck
• Film "The Phantom Ship" (1936) on the Internet Archive
• The True Story of the Mary Celeste, Smithsonian Networks
• The Captain of the Polestar by Arthur Conan Doyle on Project Gutenberg