Mary Celeste, The Abandoned Ship

Stock Photo of a Ship

The Mary Celeste

This tale of an abandoned ghost ship has been told and dramatized many times in books, documentaries, films, etc. and the name of the ship has become one known by enthusiasts as a famous and unnerving tale. Before the actual mystery, here is a summary of the actual ship and its history. The Mary Celeste was a two-masted sailing vessel that was built in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1861 and served under the name Amazon for 6 years. In 1868, the ship was transferred to American Ownership and was subsequently given its name, "The Mary Celeste." The ship remained in American ownership until 1885 when her captain deliberately wrecked her near the coast of Haiti in an attempt to claim the Insurance claim money and after that, the ship's story ends. Now, this was all basic stuff but the real mystery related to this ship begins in a voyage in 1872 that made it a mystery unsolved till this date. 

The 1872 Voyage

On November 7th, 1872, The Mary Celeste left Pier 50 of New York City carrying a cargo of 1,701 barrels of denatured alcohol with a total of 10 people on board which included Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife Sarah, and the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Sophia along with seven crewmen. The large ship was met with heavy storms until it reached the Azores, where at 5 a.m. on November 25, the ship's last entry was logged. While all this was going on a ship named the Dei Gratia lead by Captain David Morehouse, was preparing to leave the same port on the 13th of November following approximately the same route as the Mary Celeste had planned. The Dei Gratia was carrying a cargo of petroleum which was to be delivered to Genoa via Gibraltar.

The fate of these 2 ships collided on December 5th of 1872 and about 740 km from the Azores when the crew of the Dei Grate spotted a vessel about 10kms away from them, heading in their direction. The ship was moving very strangely and its sails were in an odd position leading Capt. Morehouse to suspect that something was wrong. As they got closer to the ship, Morehouse noticed that the ship was oddly silent and empty so he two men from his ship to scout out the ship. It was then discovered that this was the Mary Celeste and that it was totally deserted. The ship wasn't in great condition and had folded and missing sails along with tattered ropes. The ship had about 3.5 feet of water in the hull but was still in decent condition and seaworthy. Strangely, many personal items were still on board such as the crew's clothes and valuables but the ship's navigational equipment and papers were missing making it seem like a planned but rushed exit. Along with this, the ship was also missing it's only lifeboat and there were no signs of it breaking off which indicates that it was deliberately lowered.

Theories

There are quite a lot of theories when it comes to explaining what happened to the Mary Celeste but I've picked out a few that I found the most convincing and interesting:

1. Abandoned Ship Theory

This first theory is pretty simple and has a lot of evidence backing it up. Firstly, according to the logs of the Mary Celeste, the ship was facing heavy storms and when it was discovered was filling with water. This could indicate that the crew and captain decided to abandon the ship due to the risk of it wrecking in the storm. This would explain many things like their disappearance as well as the missing lifeboat. If we continue on this and say that they must not have been able to make it out of the storm and lost their lives this theory is left with only one drawback which is the Captain. Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs was a very experienced captain and many believe that it is highly unlikely for a man of his experience to make a foolish mistake such as abandoning his sturdy ship in a storm for a small boat.

2. Pirates Theory

As the name suggests, this theory claims that the ship must have been looted by pirates somewhere near the Azores and the crew was either killed or kidnapped. Riffian pirates were active near those areas in that period and pirates would explain the missing crew and possibly the lifeboat as well but there is one vital thing missing for this theory to be believable, a lack of theft. The crew of the Dei Gratia noted that the personal possessions of the captain and crew were still on the ship and some were of great value and I find it unlikely that pirates would be willing to leave valuables and just take papers.

3. Seaquake Theory

This theory states that an earthquake under the sea ("seaquake") must've been the cause for the crew to abandon the ship. It is claimed that a seaquake must've caused violent tremors on the surface of the ship leading to damage of the cargo which was denatured alcohol and must've chemically reacted somehow creating fumes. This would lead to the Captain and crew abandoning the ship in the fear of an explosion from the cargo. In a normal case, it would be sensible to secure the boat to the main ship but due to the circumstances, this may have been forgotten leading to the lifeboat floating away into the open waters. This would explain quite a lot but this theory is discredited since the cargo was unharmed and the ship showed no signs of an explosion or any fire damage.

4. Paranormal Theory

As with every tale of a missing or abandoned ship, this theory is always present as it is basically a "ghost ship." This theory goes on to state that the ship must've been haunted from the beginning and that ghosts would have taken control of or killed the captain and crew. While this would also explain many things such as the leaving of valuable possessions the only problem is that this theory has no real evidence of any kind and seems too far fetched. This theory seems more like a courtesy due to this story highly resembling a ghost ship tale and thus isn't very popular either.

Conclusion

As with all ghost ship mysteries I really loved reading about this as well as the mystery as a whole. There are actually many more theories such as the crew of the Dei Gratia being involved in foul play but it didn't seem quite believable and the courts at the time dismissed it even after heavy scrutiny. Out of all of these theories, in my personal opinion, I'm most inclined towards believing the "seaquake" theory. This is because it is just as possible as some of the other theories but it does a better job in explaining some strange things related to the abandonment. Specifically, this theory would not require incompetence on the part of the Captain as the first theory of abandonment due to bad weather would. Along with this, it would explain why no personal possessions were taken as leaving in a panicked hurry wouldn't allow enough time to do so. The only change I would make in this theory is that there was no actual explosion but the cargo probably just reacted in a manner that caused fumes to be produced leading the captain to believe an explosion was imminent.

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