On 4 December 1872, a Canadian brigantine, the Dei Gratia, was on her way from New York to the Mediterranean when she had an encounter her crew would never forget. They encountered a ship - the brigantine Mary Celeste - but no one answered their calls. So Captain Morehouse sent three men over to see what was going on. The ship was abandoned, some hatches were open and water had entered and the compass was damaged. The dinghy, a sextant, the chronometer and most of the ship’s papers were missing. Part of the railing had been removed to launch the boat.
Mary Celeste often misreported as Marie Celeste (x)
Further, there were indications that the ship had been abandoned in a hurry. There were all the items still on board that a sailor would take with him in an orderly abandonment, such as sea boots, clothing, pipe, tobacco, etc. The galley was tidy.
A half-eaten meal left in the great cabin and the Dei Gratia crew boarding the Mary Celeste. 4. December, 1872. (x)
The galley was tidy, the beds in the great cabin were unmade, one porthole was open. The logbook was still open on the captain’s table and the last entry was dated 24 November. So she had been in this state for 10 days. Morehouse couldn’t see what could have happened, so he had the mate and two sailors refit her and sail her to Gibraltar. She arrived there on 13. December 1872.
As soon as she arrived, speculation began as to what had happened. Mary Celeste had picked up a cargo of 1701 barrels of alcohol in New York, destined for Genoa, sailing under the command of Captain Briggs, 7 sailors, Briggs’ wife and his 2 year old daughter. This led to the suspicion that the crew had drunkenly killed the captain and disappeared with the dinghy. But then there should have been corpses. Another theory was that they were victims of pirates. And so even Captain Morehouse came under suspicion. He had robbed the Mary Celeste to get the salvage pay alone. Dark brown stains were found on board, which were thought to be blood.
Mary Celeste, by Vincent Alexander Booth 2016 (x)
The stains were examined, but the analysis disappeared without a trace.
Eventually, the maritime court acquitted Morehouse and his mate of all charges. The crew of the Dei Gratia were awarded salvage wages of $8,000. A later theory came to a different conclusion which is probably the most likely. The Mary Celeste had been the victim of a seaquake.
According to the official investigation by Lloyds, the cargo was the cause of the ship’s abandonment. The pure alcohol would have given off vapours through the one open and other sweating barrels.
Captain Briggs was afraid that the ship would catch fire or explode. That is why the hatches were open, a common activity on ships carrying alcohol.
The crew probably went into the dinghy to wait for the fumes to dissipate. A gust may have driven the dinghy away or broken the line to the boat. The boat probably capsized in stormy seas. The only certainty was that the crew was lost.
The Mary Celeste remained an unlucky ship. She was sold several times. In 1884, she ran onto a coral reef off Haiti, caught fire and sank.
This happened under such mysterious circumstances that the owner was put on trial for insurance fraud.However, he was acquitted because of formal defects.
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