THE MYSTERY OF THE MARY CELESTE
by unknown (upper intermediate-level)

On the afternoon of December 5th 1872 a ship called the Dei Gratia was sailing from the Azores towards the Portuguese coast. Captain Morehouse was standing on the bridge of his ship, looking out to sea. Looking troubled, he called to his First Lieutenant.

‘Look over there,’ said Captain Morehouse. ‘Do you recognise that ship?’

A look of great surprise came on the First Lieutenant’s face. ‘It’s the Mary Celeste!’ he said.

The Mary Celeste was the sister ship of the Dei Gratia. It had left New York a week before the Dei Gratia.

‘What’s it doing here?’ asked the First Lieutenant. ‘And why is it just blowing in the wind like that?’

More men came out onto the deck. They watched the Mary Celeste drifting slowly on the tide.

‘This is very strange,’ said Captain Morehouse ‘I’ve known Captain Briggs for many years. He wouldn’t allow his ship to drift like that..’

‘What can we do, Captain?’

‘There's only one thing we can do,’ said Captain Morehouse. ‘We need to find out what is going on.’

There was no answer

Captain Morehouse sailed out to the Mary Celeste in a small boat. As they got closer, it became obvious that something was wrong. The deck of Celeste was deserted and there were no signs of life.

The men from the Dei Gratia boarded the ship. ‘Ahoy there!’ they cried. ‘Is anyone here?’

But there was no answer. Neither Captain Briggs, nor his wife and daughter nor his seven crew were anywhere on the ship. The Mary Celeste was deserted.

‘They’ve all gone,’ said the first lieutenant. ‘It’s like a ghost ship

Legends

There are many legends about the Mary Celeste. One is that there were half eaten breakfasts and cups of hot tea in the dining room of the ship. Another is that the ship’s cat was still on board.

The official enquiry into the Mary Celeste does not support such stories. It suggests that the ship was ‘was in a bad state’ and not fit for human habitation. When the boarding party entered the dining room they found that ‘the stove was knocked out of its place, and the cooking utensils were {thrown} around. The whole ship was a thoroughly wet mess. The Captain's bed was not fit to sleep in and had to be dried.'

It seems likely that the men abandoned the Mary Celeste in a hurry because their personal possessions were still on the ship. They had left their boots behind, for example.

What happened to the Mary Celeste?

There is very little we can say for certain about what had happened about the Mary Celeste. We know that it was sailing from New York to Genoa in Italy with a cargo of alcohol. On board were 37 year old Captain Briggs, his wife, Sarah, his two-year-old daughter Sophia . There were also seven crew.

The American Briggs was an experienced captain and a part owner of the ship. Did he order the passengers and crew to leave the ship? If so, why?

Did Captain Briggs believe that the Mary Celeste was sinking? If so, he was wrong. When Morehouse boarded the ship it was seaworthy, though certain important things were missing. There was no Chronometer or navigation book or ship’s register.

Did pirates attack the ship? There were rumours that a bloody sword was found on board and that there were bloodstains on the deck. But again the evidence given to the enquiry does not support the rumours of a sword fight.

Morehouse and his men did find an old sword on the ship – but it had not been used for years. In fact there was no sign that a robbery had taken place and the ship’s cargo of alcohol was still on board.

Captain Morehouse’s explanation

‘I cannot know for certain what happened on the Mary Celeste. My personal view is that something happened to make the crew panic. I think they left the ship because they thought it was sinking.

When we boarded the Mary Celeste we found a broken rope hanging over the side of the deck. Perhaps this was used to tow the smaller boat behind until it broke. There was very bad weather in the days before we found the Mary Celeste. For four days there had been a storm – it only ended on the morning we found her.

Of course they may not have tied their lifeboat to the Mary Celeste. But I still think they would have been unlikely to survive a storm in a small boat on the open sea. If only they had just stayed on the Mary Celeste we could have rescued them.

So why did they leave on that lifeboat? That is the real mystery. I knew Captain Briggs well – I had dinner with him in New York a few days before the Mary Celeste sailed. He was a good man and an experienced seaman. He would not have left the bridge of his ship unless he believed it to be in mortal danger. What happened to frighten him into risking the lives of his family and crew?

Do you think Captain Morehouse’s is right? What do you think happened to the Mary Celeste?

The End