Want to know what really happened to the American brigantine Maria Celeste? The ghost ship was found in 1872 in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores. On December 5, 1872, the British brig "Dei Grazia" discovered a ship drifting in Atlantic waters 1,000 miles west of Portugal. The ship seemed abandoned.
When members of the Dei Grazia crew boarded the Maria Celeste, to their surprise, they found the ship in perfect order. Even the clothes were neatly folded, but there was not a single living soul around. The fact that people were recently present here was evidenced by a disassembled pump and a missing lifeboat. This is how one of the most mysterious secrets of the sea was born.
More than a century and a half since its discovery, there have been plenty of hypotheses about what could have happened to people on the ghost ship. Among them were frankly ridiculous ones, such as the version about the involvement of sea monsters in this. According to another version, the reason for the hasty evacuation from the ship could have been an explosion of alcohol vapors, because the ship was intended to carry a large consignment of alcohol.
Discovery of "Mary Celeste"
On November 7, 1972, the Maria Celeste, under the control of Captain Benjamin Briggs, sailed from New York Harbor and sailed to Genoa, Italy. But the ship was not destined to reach its destination. For two weeks, the ship struggled with bad weather at sea. The last entry in the logbook is dated November 25th.
When the Dei Grazia stumbled upon the Maria Celeste (December 5) and her captain boarded, he found water more than a meter deep in the hold. Nothing happened to the alcohol, although some of the barrels were empty. Moreover, the ghost ship was still in a navigable state. Therefore, the crew of the Dei Grazia split into two parts, and both ships went to Gibraltar to receive a reward for the salvage of the ship in accordance with international maritime law.
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Hypotheses
Why did the ship's crew leave it? The vessel was in a seaworthy condition. There was enough water and food on board to feed the crew for 6 months. The things were folded. The captain can leave the ship only in case of extreme circumstances, and it can be definitely said that there were no such circumstances. For over 150 years, this story has remained a mystery.
Someone believed that the team drank alcohol and rebelled. But there were no signs of a fight on the ship. Others believed that the ship was captured by pirates, but no valuable items were missing. One of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle describes in detail how the ship was captured by a former slave. But where did this slave go, and where did everyone else go? Other versions have suggested that sea monsters or water tornadoes could be to blame.
The only thing that all these hypotheses had in common was that none of them had any evidence. One of the most plausible was the version that alcohol vapors blew off the hatch cover, and the team, frightened by the fire, hastily left the ship. But the lid was in its place and was tightly closed.
The scam hypothesis
There was a version about cheating team members. When both ships arrived in Gibraltar, the captain of the Dei Grazia applied for a reward for the salvage of a merchant ship. The Admiralty Court first considered the fraud version. But after a three-month trial, he could not find evidence of this.
The Dei Grazia team ultimately won the reward. However, it was only one sixth of the total cost of "Mary Celeste" (46 thousand dollars). Probably, the authorities did not fully believe the saviors.
McGregor hypothesis
In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a short story, The Message of Hebekuk Jephson, based on one of the stories about Mary Celeste. After the publication of the story, the investigation into the ghost ship was resumed. But it never led to anything.
Finally, in 2002, documentary filmmaker Anne McGregor began her investigation. Using various modern techniques, she restored the ship's motion and concluded that the captain had a faulty chronometer that had hopelessly deviated from course. The Maria Celeste strayed 120 miles west of its route.
The captain expected to see the land 3 days earlier than when he actually discovered it. Seeking shelter from the weather, he changed course towards the island of Santa Maria (Azores). But even this could not force the captain to leave the ship.
In addition, McGregor learned that the ship had been upgraded. Coal dust and debris left after the conversion of the ship could clog the pumps designed to pump water out of the hold. Since the pumps were not working, and there was no way to remove the water naturally penetrating into the hold of the ship, Captain Briggs, upon seeing the ground, made the decision to rescue the crew members.
Andrey Bert
