What we know for sure is that it was an American brigantine merchant ship that had been at sea for about a month leaving New York City for Genoa. When she was found, she was fully stocked with six months’ worth of food and supplies. The ship was completely seaworthy. The weather was calm. It had no distress signal flying. No signs of violence or mutiny. But all of her passengers and crew were gone.
The ship’s lifeboat was also gone. That would lead to the conclusion that they had abandoned the ship. Their personal possessions and valuables were untouched, so they must have left in a hurry.
The ship’s papers, navigation equipment, and two pumps were also missing. But the logbook remained.
Over the years, theories, myths and false histories about the abandoned ship appeared. The earliest theories, as you might guess, were the least plausible. Sea monsters? No. And yet many decades later, alien abduction was suggested. A storm, waterspout, tsunami? Unlikely based on the remaining evidence. Piracy or mutiny seemed more likely. But what would pirates have taken? And where was the crew?
Over the years, theories, myths and false histories about the abandoned ship appeared. The earliest theories, as you might guess, were the least plausible. Sea monsters? No. And yet many decades later, alien abduction was suggested. A storm, waterspout, tsunami? Unlikely based on the remaining evidence. Piracy or mutiny seemed more likely. But what would pirates have taken? And where was the crew?
In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) wrote "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", a short story based on the mystery. He mistakenly spelled the vessel's name as Marie Celeste and the story, full of myths, led to the misspelling and the myths to become more commonly believed.
The Mary Celeste‘s cargo was 1,700 barrels of raw alcohol. When the ship was sailed by a crew from the ship that found her to Gibraltar, a British vice-admiralty court convened a salvage hearing being more concerned about who now could claim the ship. It was discovered that nine of the barrels were empty. Had the barrels leaked and the fumes ignited? Alcohol burns at such a low temperature and even a large explosion could have left the ship and remaining barrels undamaged, but it would have frightened the passengers and crew to abandon the ship.
But wouldn't they have seen later that a subsequent explosion did not occur and returned? Or did they attempt to make land or get so far from the ship that bad weather, starvation or thirst killed them?
The day before they reached the Azores, they changed course and headed north of Santa Maria Island, perhaps seeking haven, and the night before the last entry in the ship's log, the Mary Celeste faced rough seas and winds of more than 35 knots.
We still don't have a definitive answer to this mystery. A 2007 Smithsonian Channel documentary, noted that the ship's pump was found disassembled on deck for repair. Had the captain thought they might have taken on too much water in storms? The filmmakers also thought the ship's chronometer was faulty. Did the captain believe incorrectly that they were close to Santa Maria when they were actually 120 miles away from it and that they should abandon the ship because of water taken on and go for help?
In any case, there were no survivors. No one to tell the true tale.
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