The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries by Colin Wilson

Author:Colin Wilson [Wilson, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Constable Robinson
Published: 2012-02-29T13:30:00+00:00

33

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

On a calm afternoon of 5 December 1872 the English ship Dei Gratia sighted a two-masted brig pursuing an erratic course in the North Atlantic, midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal. As they came closer they could see that she was sailing with only her jib and foretop mast staysail set; moreover, the jib was set to port, while the vessel was on a starboard tack – a sure sign to any sailor that the ship was out of control. Captain Morehouse of the Dei Gratia signalled the mysterious vessel, but received no answer. The sea was running high after recent squalls, and it took a full two hours before Morehouse could get close enough to read the name of the vessel. It was the Mary Celeste. Morehouse knew this American ship and its master, Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs. Less than a month ago both vessels had been loading cargo on neighbouring piers on New York’s East River. The Mary Celeste had set sail for Genoa with a cargo of crude alcohol on 5 November, ten days before the Dei Gratia had sailed for Gibraltar; yet now, a month later, she was drifting in mid-Atlantic with no sign of life.

Morehouse sent three men to investigate, led by his first mate Oliver Deveau, a man of great physical strength and courage. As they clambered aboard they saw that the ship’s decks were deserted; a search below revealed that there was not a living soul on board. But the lifeboat was missing, indicating that Captain Briggs had decided to abandon ship.

There was a great deal of water below decks; two sails had been blown away, and the lower foretop sails were hanging by their corners. Yet the ship seemed seaworthy, and was certainly in no danger of sinking. Then why had the crew abandoned her? Further research revealed that the binnacle, the box containing the ship’s compass, had been smashed, and the compass itself was broken. Two cargo hatches had been ripped off, and one of the casks of crude alcohol had been stoved in. Both forward and aft storage lockers contained a plentiful supply of food and water.

The seamen’s chests were still in the crew’s quarters, an indication of the haste in which the ship had been deserted. But a search of the captain’s cabin revealed that the navigation instruments and navigation log were missing. The last entry in the general log was dated 25 November; it meant that the Mary Celeste had sailed without crew for at least nine days, and that she was now some 700 miles north-east of her last recorded position.

Apart from Captain Briggs and a crew of seven, the Mary Celeste had also sailed with Brigg’s wife Sarah and his two-year old daughter Sophia Matilda. Faced with the mystery of why they had abandoned ship for no obvious reason, Morehouse experienced a certain superstitious alarm when Deveau suggested that two of the Dei Gratia’s crew should sail the

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