In April 2007, a sailing catamaran … without people was discovered at sea off the coast of Australia. The rescuers climbed aboard and were confused. The sails are up, although one is torn. The engine is idling. The ship's computer screen is illuminated in the cabin. The GPS Global Positioning System is flashing LEDs. The radio station bulbs are flashing. The table is set for dinner: plates, forks. There is exemplary order everywhere. On board a complete set of life-saving equipment: a dinghy, three inflatable life jackets, an emergency buoy. And there is no team … Well, how can you not remember the "Maria Celeste"!
Chestplate with a black cat
December 4, 1872 from the barque "Dei Grazia", sailing across the Atlantic to Gibraltar, noticed a sail on the horizon. When the ships approached, it turned out that the brigantine "Maria Celeste" was on a course converging with the barque.
It was an amazing meeting. The barque and the brigantine stood almost side by side in the port of New York, only the Maria Celeste set out on November 7, and the Dei Grazia on the 15th. The fact that the ships met meant that the speed of the bark was higher than the speed of the brigantine. This put an end to the dispute between good friends - Captain Morehouse from Dei Grazia and Captain Briggs from Maria Celeste, whose ship was considered faster.
But something was wrong with the brigantine. First, the Maria Celeste did not respond to the signal raised on the barque's mast. Secondly, the brigantine went in zigzags, as if a drunk was at the helm. And thirdly, with an even, weak wind, of all the sails of the ship, only storm sails were set.
As the ships came closer, those on board the Dei Grazia saw that the deck of the Maria Celeste was empty. Captain Morehouse ordered to lower the boat. The sailors scrambled onto the deck along the cables hanging over the side.
The brigantine had a roll to starboard (there was three and a half feet of water in the hold). The rest of the sailboat was in good condition, only the torn off cover of the hatch leading to the hold was lying on the deck.
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The compass was also broken and there were no lifeboats. The sextant and other instruments disappeared from the captain's cabin; from the documents there was only a logbook, the last entry in which was made on November 24, and judging by the latitude and longitude indicated there, "Maria Celeste" during this time covered about 500 miles. In the cockpit the sailors' duffel bags were in perfect order, and the clothes were drying on a rope. In the captain's cabin, along with other things, there was a small harmonium, a suitcase with children's clothes and toys, and a saber with brown spots lay under the bunk. And not a single living soul!
Although … When the sailors from "Dei Grazia" were about to go down into the boat, they heard a meow. A black cat with green eyes was sitting on the closet in the pantry.
Returning to his ship, the assistant reported to Morehouse about what he saw. He ordered three sailors to cross to the brigantine and take the "Maria Celeste" for "Dei Grazia" to Gibraltar. A small caravan arrived there on 12 December.
Blood or Rust?
The investigation, led by Gibraltar's attorney general, Soli Flood, lasted three months. Here's what we found out.
The brigantine "Maria Celeste" 103 feet long and a displacement of 282 tons really came out of New York. Onboard there were 11 people: eight crew members, Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and little daughter. The cargo consisted of barrels with alcohol and blubber, that is, liquid fat extracted from the fat of marine mammals.
There was a dent on the Maria Celeste's stem below the waterline - clearly from a collision with something solid.
Sergey Borisov