Post by WitchBoy on Jun 1, 2002 21:31:22 GMT -5
The Mary Celeste
The Mary Celeste, a 103 foot brigantine, set sail from New York for Genoa on November 7, 1872. She was found abandoned at sea on December 14, 1872 at 38"29'N, 17"15'W (590 miles west of Gibraltar) by the Dei Gratia.
The Mary Celeste had carried Captain Briggs, his wife and daughter, and a crew of 8. The only lifeboat was missing, and appeared to have been launched rather then torn away.
Descriptions vary, but everything was apparently in good order although some versions have the sails torn slightly. Some versions say a meal was about to be served. Some have it still cooking on the stove. Others say that still warm meals were sitting on the tables.
The captain's personal effects were on board, and toys were found on his bed. The cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol were intact, although there was 3 1/2 feet of water in the hold. The ships papers, except for the captain's log, and the navigation instruments were missing.
There was 6 months worth of food and water on board.
There were many theories as to why the crew had abandoned the ship. These range from hallucinations as the result of food poisoning to an attempt to scuttle the ship for the insurance money gone awry. Some people theorized that the crew had gotten into the alcohol shipment. Others said that fumes rising from the barrels of alcohol could have looked like smoke under certain conditions, causing the captain to believe that the shipment was on fire. Yet another theory holds that the ship ran aground on a "ghost island" , a moving sandbar. The crew abandoned the ship, and the sand bar eventually moved again sending the Mary Celeste drifting. Lack of evidence of violence caused most people to rule out piracy.
Fiction writers of the time had a field day. Arthur Conan Doyle, writing under a pseudonym, published an article in the January 1884 "Cornhill Magazine" entitled "J Habalick Jephson's Statement" which featured a fictional ship called "Marie Celeste". The fictional tale bore enough resemblance to the actual events surrounding the Mary Celeste that the two are often confused and intertwined.
Up to 50 years after the incident confessions were being made by sailors claiming to be survivors. One such tale involved the captain challenging his first mate to a swimming race around the boat. Both men were supposedly attacked by sharks, and as the crew watched in horror a wave knocked them into the water. None of the sailors' tales could be substantiated.
The Mary Celeste, a 103 foot brigantine, set sail from New York for Genoa on November 7, 1872. She was found abandoned at sea on December 14, 1872 at 38"29'N, 17"15'W (590 miles west of Gibraltar) by the Dei Gratia.
The Mary Celeste had carried Captain Briggs, his wife and daughter, and a crew of 8. The only lifeboat was missing, and appeared to have been launched rather then torn away.
Descriptions vary, but everything was apparently in good order although some versions have the sails torn slightly. Some versions say a meal was about to be served. Some have it still cooking on the stove. Others say that still warm meals were sitting on the tables.
The captain's personal effects were on board, and toys were found on his bed. The cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol were intact, although there was 3 1/2 feet of water in the hold. The ships papers, except for the captain's log, and the navigation instruments were missing.
There was 6 months worth of food and water on board.
There were many theories as to why the crew had abandoned the ship. These range from hallucinations as the result of food poisoning to an attempt to scuttle the ship for the insurance money gone awry. Some people theorized that the crew had gotten into the alcohol shipment. Others said that fumes rising from the barrels of alcohol could have looked like smoke under certain conditions, causing the captain to believe that the shipment was on fire. Yet another theory holds that the ship ran aground on a "ghost island" , a moving sandbar. The crew abandoned the ship, and the sand bar eventually moved again sending the Mary Celeste drifting. Lack of evidence of violence caused most people to rule out piracy.
Fiction writers of the time had a field day. Arthur Conan Doyle, writing under a pseudonym, published an article in the January 1884 "Cornhill Magazine" entitled "J Habalick Jephson's Statement" which featured a fictional ship called "Marie Celeste". The fictional tale bore enough resemblance to the actual events surrounding the Mary Celeste that the two are often confused and intertwined.
Up to 50 years after the incident confessions were being made by sailors claiming to be survivors. One such tale involved the captain challenging his first mate to a swimming race around the boat. Both men were supposedly attacked by sharks, and as the crew watched in horror a wave knocked them into the water. None of the sailors' tales could be substantiated.
