The unsolved mystery of "Mary Celeste"
So much has already been written and told about the mysterious fate of the brigantine "Maria Celeste" that now it is impossible to tell where in this story is truth, and where is fiction. In search of answers to this riddle, dozens of different versions were put forward, up to the most fantastic, but no one to this day knows and probably will never know what could have happened on board the ship in reality …
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… 1872, December 13, morning - two people in the caps of officers of the merchant fleet entered the office of the commander of the port of Gibraltar.
- My name is Morehouse, - introduced the one that was taller. - I am the captain of the American ship Dei Grazia, which arrived at the port yesterday evening. And this is my assistant, Oliver Deveaux. I came to you with a report on the circumstances under which I happened to meet the brigantine "Maria Celeste", on which there was no team …
Morehouse's story:
His ship made a flight from New York to Genoa. At noon on December 4, 1872, the captain, as always, determined his coordinates by the sun - "Dei Grazia" was at 38 ° 20 ′ s. sh. and 13 ° 37 ′ W. e. There were less than 400 miles to go to Gibraltar. The captain was about to get off the poop when the looking ahead reported that he saw a sail ahead on the port side.
A few minutes later, the silhouette of a small ship was already visible. Judging by the rigging, it was a brigantine - a 2-masted vessel with straight sails on the front mast and oblique, like a schooner, on the rear. A brigantine with an American flag, was sailing on only one jib and stern fore, all the other sails were removed.
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“I immediately noticed that the ship was not keeping course well, moving forward in zigzags,” said Captain Morehouse. - When our ships got a little closer, I ordered to raise the signal, giving the international code the name of my ship, port of departure and port of destination. There was no answer. Then I gave the order to honk: "Do you need help?" Again no answer. Coming closer, I saw that there was no one on the deck, I read its name on board the brigantine: "Maria Celeste" "…
Morehouse knew this ship: he had known the captain of the Mary Celeste Benjamin Briggs since childhood. Both of them became captains at almost the same time, both got married in the same year. And on this fatal voyage, they also set off almost simultaneously: "Maria Celeste" left New York on November 7, "Dei Grazia" - on November 15.
But why isn't Briggs answering? Surprised and even worried, Morehouse ordered to go on a return course and catch up with the ship heading west. Coming closer, he dispatched chief officer Oliver Deveaux and two sailors to the brigantine.
The boat approached the side of the Maria Celeste. People from "Dei Gratsia" began to call the crew, but no one responded to their call. Then they climbed onto the deck on the cables hanging over the side.
A strange silence reigned on the Mary Celeste. The ship went forward very briskly, heeling to the starboard side. There was no one at the wheel, and it was spinning from side to side. The masts and spars were in perfect order. The foresail and the upper fore-topsail were apparently blown away by the wind. The lowered mainsail lay on the roof of the conning tower. Only the jib and foresail were delivered, and the rest of the sails were removed.
Devaux and his sailors examined the entire brigantine, from deck to hold. There were no people anywhere - neither living nor dead. For some reason the bow hatch was open. His wooden hatches were lying side by side on the deck. The cargo, consisting of 1,700 barrels of rectified cognac, remained untouched. Water splashed between the barrels. The water level in the hold was about a meter.
The second hold was also open. Its lids were folded neatly. There was water in this hold too. Deveaux noticed that all six windows of the aft superstructure were covered with tarpaulins and planks.
In the captain's cabin, the skylight was open. The deck, bulkheads and everything in the cabin was wet. There were no shipping documents. The sextant, chronometer and navigational books were also missing.
Deveaux went into the corridor and opened the doors of the next cabin, the Chief Officer. It was dry here. On the table was the Maria Celeste's open logbook. The last entry in it referred to November 24, 1872. It said that at noon of this day the ship was, according to astronomical reckoning, at a point with coordinates 36 ° 57 ′ s. sh. and 27 ° 20 ′ W. - that is, about a hundred miles west of the Azores. But now the Maria Celeste was 500 miles east of them!
In the wardroom, plates and cups were neatly arranged on the table, spoons, knives and forks lay. The porthole had a sewing machine, and on it was a bottle of machine oil, and this was a clear indication that the sea had been calm all these days, otherwise the bottle would have fallen long ago. Children's toys were scattered on the floor.
On his desk, Deveaux saw a slate on which skippers usually made rough notes before making an entry in the logbook. From these records it followed that on November 25, 1872, at 8 o'clock in the morning, the ship was six miles south-south-west of Santa Maria Island (one of the Azores group). In the drawers of the desk there were someone's jewelry and two wads of money - pounds sterling and dollars.
In the bow cabin, the sailors 'lockers were in perfect order, the southwestern boxes were hung on the walls, the sailors' robes were drying on a rope. Even the pipes were left behind, which no sailor would have done in his right mind and memory. In the pantry, provisions were stored, which would have been enough for six months. Continuing his inspection, Deveaux established that there were no lifeboats. Everything indicated that if the brigantine was left by the crew for some reason, then it happened quite recently …
Having heard the report of the assistant, Captain Morehouse himself went to inspect the brigantine, after which he instructed three of his sailors to lead him after the Dei Grazia to Gibraltar. They arrived there on the evening of December 12 …
Sally Flood, the Royal Legal Counsel in Gibraltar, who was also the Attorney General, appointed a special commission to investigate the circumstances of this mysterious case. In the first days, the following facts were established:
The Maria Celeste sailed from New York to Genoa on November 4, 1872 under the command of Captain Benjamin S. Briggs with a cargo of cognac rectified. The team was fully staffed. When sailing on the brigantine, there were captain Briggs with his wife and 2-year-old daughter Sophie, the senior mate, the boatswain, six sailors and the cook - only 12 people.
The ship was in good condition. The brigantine was built in Nova Scotia, on the island of Spencer, in 1862. The builder of the "Mary Celeste" was the famous shipbuilder Joshua Davis. The ship's displacement is 282 tons, length is 30 meters, width is 7.6 meters and draft is 3.5 meters. The vessel has made many successful crossings across the Atlantic and was considered one of the best sailing ships on the northeast coast of America. All the more surprising and inexplicable was the strange disappearance of the ship's crew …
Without a doubt, the storm could not have caused the tragedy. One of the main reasons is an oil can on a sewing machine. During a storm, the vessel would experience a strong roll and pitching motion, as a result of which the oiler would slide off the smooth shelf onto the floor. This would have happened with the plates that were on the table in the wardroom. Consequently, the crew left the brigantine on those days when the sea was calm. But what forced the sailors to take such a step?
The first version that the investigation considered was a riot on the ship. On board the brigantines found a sword with brown spots on the point. The deck was covered with the same spots in several places. “This is blood,” the prosecutor said. But analysis showed that it was common rust or traces of wine. The prosecutor insisted on his own: "The sailors of the 'Maria Celeste" got drunk and started a riot. They killed the captain, his wife, daughter, possibly also the assistant and the boatswain, and threw the corpses into the sea. After sobering up and seeing what they had done, the sailors left ship and were picked up at sea by some ship."
This hypothesis looked, in general, convincing, but it could neither be confirmed nor refuted by anything. However, if the criminals were alive, then they had to show up somewhere! From Gibraltar to New York, London and to all British and American consulates, urgent dispatches were sent out: if people from the Maria Celeste were found, they were ordered to be immediately detained and interrogated. Looking ahead, let's say that no one from the ship's crew has ever been seen again …
James H. Winchester, the owner of the brigantine, soon arrived from New York to Gibraltar. After inspecting the ship, he said that the harmonium found on the ship belonged to Mrs. Briggs, who took it with her to have fun while sailing. And of the two lifeboats put by the state, one was broken during loading and they did not have time to change it, so the "Maria Celeste" went on a voyage with one boat. Nothing new could be established.
The investigation was completed. The brigantine went on a new voyage with a new crew, but the fate of the missing people did not cease to worry many. The investigation was unable to reach any definite opinion, noting only the following:
“The circumstances of the case give rise to very gloomy fears that the captain of the ship, his wife, child and, perhaps, the chief mate were killed by the sailors, who were brutalized by booze, who probably got access to the barrels of alcohol that made up a significant part of the cargo. The Maria Celeste appears to have been abandoned by the crew between 25 November and 5 December; the crew either died at sea, or, more likely, was picked up by a ship heading for one of the ports in North or South America or the West Indies."
The public was not satisfied with such conclusions. One after another, new versions of what happened began to appear. A shadow of suspicion fell on Captain Morehouse and his crew: they were accused of capturing the brigantine, destroying its entire crew, in the hope of receiving a bonus for the allegedly saved ship (by the way, they actually received this award). It was said that while still in New York, Morehouse had managed to get his men aboard the ship; they took possession of the "Maria Celeste", killed the captain and the sailors, threw their bodies overboard and at a predetermined place began to wait for the "Dei Grazia" to arrive.
According to another version, the main villain was the owner of "Mary Celeste" James H. Winchester. It was he who allegedly persuaded the sailors to kill Captain Briggs and his family and sink the ship in order to receive an insurance premium, but the sailors made some mistake and died themselves. Probably, the cunning plan provided that when the ship approached the Azores, the sailors would direct it to the rocks, and they themselves would jump into the sea and swim to the shore, but an unexpected gust of wind carried the brigantine into the sea, and she continued sailing, and those who jumped overboard the sailors drowned …
The public liked the topic of the planned villainy so much that newspapers vied with each other to feed the public new versions of this plot, climbing further and further into the jungle of outright fantasy: the entire crew of the "Maria Celeste" was poisoned by an insidious cook; he threw the corpses overboard, and then went mad and threw himself into the sea … No, they all went mad! The spoiled food caused hallucinations in the crew, and people began to throw themselves into the sea to escape from terrible visions … Yes, it was so, only it was not the food that was to blame, but the cognac rectified: drunk in excessive doses, it would cause such visions that would not seem like little … No, what have visions to do with it! The brigantine was captured by the Moorish pirates, and when they saw the approaching Dei Grazia, they got scared and fled, taking the crew of the Maria Celeste with them … Exactly! Only it wasn't the pirates who attacked the ship,and the giant octopus …
It was claimed that a plague epidemic broke out on the ship. The captain with his wife, daughter and chief mate hastily left the brigantine in a boat, which later perished. The crew who remained on board opened the hold, got to alcohol, got drunk and everyone fell overboard … It was claimed that the crew left the ship because of a powerful tornado, which is no less dangerous at sea than a tornado on land … According to another version, an underwater earthquake or that - something like that caused a panic on the ship, and the crew left the brigantine. Another option: not far from the Azores, the ship came across a "wandering island". Having run aground, the crew decided to escape on boats, as a result of which the sailors died in the ocean. "Maria Celeste" after the next shift of the "island" was afloat again …
It was also assumed that the brigantine met a volcanic island that suddenly emerged from the ocean depths. The team landed on this piece of land. After a second shock or volcanic eruption, the island sank under water again. The crew sank, and the ship without a crew sailed on like the Flying Dutchman.
The most sober versions were associated with the "drunken" topic. 1700 barrels of alcohol on board is a great temptation for people who find themselves separated from land life for several weeks and are constantly exposed to the dangers of sailing across the ocean. The hold hatches, opened by an unknown person - neatly aft, but somehow the bow - seemed to testify in favor of the fact that some of the sailors did not fail to attach themselves to the dangerous cargo. According to another version, alcohol vapors exploded in the bow hold of the brigantine. The explosion tore off the hatch covers of the hold. Fearing further explosions, people in a hurry lowered the boat and sailed away from the ship, which could turn into a huge torch every second. There was no more explosion, but an unexpected squall drove the Maria Celeste away, making it impossible for people to return to the ship. The boat got lost in the sea and died …
Many years after this event occurred, a man appeared who assured him that he was the only member of the Maria Celeste's crew who managed to escape. He said that the captain called the senior mate to a competition: who would swim faster around the brigantine, but they were attacked by a shark. The sailors looked at this scene in horror, when suddenly a huge wave hit the deck and every one was washed overboard. The brigantine continued to move on, and the entire crew, except for himself, drowned … The impostors, posing as sailors from the "Maria Celeste", later appeared more than once. Even 50 years later, it was still possible to meet sailors who claimed to have sailed with Captain Briggs.
1925 - Lawrence Keating from England, author of nautical novels, in an interview with a London newspaper said: "There is no more mystery of 'Mary Celeste', I have solved it! In a village near Liverpool, I found an 80-year-old sailor named Pemberton, who was time as a cook on the infamous brigantine. He is the only one who survived to our time. I persuaded him to tell me everything, gave him money and explained that after a long time he would not be persecuted, no matter what he did before. And he told me everything told, and I checked some details on archives of different ports … ".
Heard by Keating from the mouth of the old cook:
Morehouse and Briggs knew each other well. On leaving New York, Briggs had difficulty in manning a crew, and Morehouse gave him three of his sailors. The crew of the Maria Celeste had a 2-meter bruiser Karl Venholt, a groom from Ohio, a rather rude man. From New York, Maria Celeste and Dei Grazia left together on the morning of November 7, and on San Miguel, one of the Azores, made an appointment in case the ships lost sight of each other, where Morehouse was going to take his sailors back.
The situation on the brigantine became dire as another obnoxious man, Lieutenant Hallock, was taken on board as assistant. He was nicknamed the Bull of Baltimore. Venholt constantly bullied him and received terrible thrashing for it. Hallock knocked him down every time, and Venholt vowed revenge on him.
Hallock also argued with the captain, believing that Mrs. Briggs played her harmonium quite often. I must say that everyone on the Maria Celeste drank a lot, and Captain Briggs was a gentle and weak-willed man.
On November 24, the brigantine was caught in a heavy storm. "Maria Celeste" fell to starboard, everyone was afraid that she would roll over, but Hallock rushed to the steering wheel and managed to save the situation. There were several strong blows, furniture fell all over the ship and things fell. After that everyone heard a woman's scream coming from the stern. Mrs Briggs screamed, crushed by her harmonium. When they ran to her, she was still breathing, but at night she died. The next day she was lowered into the sea in the presence of the entire crew.
Briggs was simply distraught with grief. He shouted that it was Hallock who killed his wife, as he was annoyed by the harmonium. Hallock went to the pantry at the stern for bottles, everyone began to drink and drank to disgrace. And then Briggs announced that Hallock was not guilty of the murder of his wife, but the harmonium itself. He sentenced her to death and began to demand that she be thrown into the sea. Which was done. A funny and sad ceremony.
The next morning the ship hardly moved. We fastened to the nose a piece of wood that had been picked up from the sea, some kind of large broken frame with crooked nails. Hallock prodded the sailors with swear words and beatings, and we managed to free the stem by pulling the frame to the side. The damage to the nose was not serious.
Afterwards, everyone noticed that Captain Briggs was nowhere to be found, no one had seen him since the drinking session. They began to search all over the brigantine, but did not find it. Everyone said that he probably threw himself out of despair into the sea. Everyone except Wenholt, who told Hallock: “You killed him.” Then Hallock punched him so hard in the face that he fell overboard. That's how it was.
Almost at the same moment, the signalman shouted: “Earth!” Hallock said that it was San Miguel and that we would meet “Dei Grazia” there. And he added that if these types are reported on him for the murder of Wenholt, he will also accuse them of rebellion, and that in general, after everything that happened here, the court does not bode well for anyone. Better blame the storm. There were no objections. Everyone's past was not so brilliant, and they were not eager to be behind bars.
We landed on the island, but "Dei Grazia" was not there. For the simple reason that it was not San Miguel, but Santa Maria, an island 50 miles to the south. And then Hallock said that he had had enough of this dirty trough, "Mary Celeste", he leaves her, and who wants to follow him, can do it. Two decided to leave with him. Hallock ordered to lower our only boat, all three got into it and headed to the port of the island, we are more never seen.
Those who remained on the ship were not so brave. Moffat, one of the three sailors of Morehouse, said that since nothing came of the meeting with Dei Grazia, we should go further, directly east, to Spain. It is not difficult, and he undertakes to lead the brigantine. And in Spain we will come up with a story. Storm, for example, as Hallock advised. All four who stayed with Moffat, including myself, agreed, since nothing else occurred to us.
At dawn on December 1, the brigantine left San Miguel. For three days no one met us on the way, and on the fourth day in the morning we saw a Portuguese steamer. Moffat asked about our whereabouts, and then asked if the Portuguese had met “Dei Grazia.” The answer was negative, and the ship departed.
Everyone was anxious. But what if, upon arriving in Spain, we find ourselves with our story before a rigorous interrogation? The police will understand that something serious has happened on the ship. I remember I was in the galley when I heard Moffat's voice on deck. There was a 3-mast sailing straight towards us on the port tack, which looked a hell of a lot like Dei Grazia. We were simply afraid to believe it. And yet it was her.
We drifted, and soon Captain Morehouse was on board. He also met a Portuguese steamer and knew that we were looking for him. Hearing now from us about all the incidents on the ship, Morehouse thought for a while and said that there was nothing to help Briggs, and therefore it is best to tell a story that would not harm us, he would think about it still. You know the story he told. Of course, he took an oath from us not to divulge secrets, and it was in our interests."
Keating's book became a real bestseller. In the wake of success, two circumstances did not strike anyone's eye: this essay does not say anything about little Sophie, who was on the ship with her mother, and the picture episode with the harmonium, sentenced to death and thrown into the sea, does not correspond to the truth, because the instrument remained on the Celeste when the ship arrived in Gibraltar. Some attentive researchers have also noted that the story of the dinner table and the chicken boiled in a pan was borrowed from a short story in The Strand Magazine, and the actual names of the Mary Celeste crew had nothing to do with Keating’s.
Traces of old Pemberton Coca were searched for in all the villages around Liverpool. And they did not find it: it simply did not exist. So Keating's "disclosure of the great secret of the Atlantic" is just a figment of fantasy, very cleverly disguised. So cleverly that for many years he misled everyone who was interested in the mystery of "Mary Celeste" …
N. Nepomniachtchi
