Mary Celeste (, often erroneously referred to as Marie Celeste) was a Canadian-built, American-registered, merchant brigantine that was discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores on December 4, 1872.
The Canadian brigantine found the Mary Celeste in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition under partial sail and with the lifeboat missing. The last entry in the log was dated 10 days earlier. The ship had left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and was still amply provisioned when found. The cargo of alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.
Mary Celeste was built in Spencers Island, Nova Scotia, and launched under British registration as Amazon in 1861. The ship was transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when given a new name. Thereafter, Mary Celeste sailed uneventfully until the 1872 voyage. At the salvage hearings in Gibraltar following the ship's recovery, the court's officers considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by Mary Celestes crew, piracy by the Dei Gratia crew or others, and conspiracy to carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence supported these theories, but unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low salvage award.
The inconclusive nature of the hearings fostered continued speculation as to what had happened to the ship's occupants, and the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes, waterspouts, attack by a giant squid, and paranormal intervention.
After the Gibraltar hearings, Mary Celeste continued in service under new owners. In 1885, the captain deliberately wrecked her off the coast of Haiti as part of an attempted insurance fraud. The story of the ship's 1872 abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times in documentaries, novels, plays, and films, and the name of the ship has become a byword for unexplained desertion. In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", a short story based on the mystery. The story's popularity led to the "Marie Celeste" spelling becoming more common than the original in everyday use.
Early history
The keel of the future Mary Celeste was laid in late 1860 at the shipyard of Joshua Dewis in the village of Spencers Island, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.Fay, p. 44 The ship was constructed of locally felled timber, with two masts, and was rigged as a brigantine; the ship was carvel-built, the hull planking flush rather than overlapping.Fay, p. 45 The ship was launched on May 18, 1861, given the name Amazon, and registered at nearby Parrsboro on June 10, 1861. The registration documents described the ship as in length, broad, in depth, and of 198.42 gross tonnage.Fay, pp. 192–193Begg, pp. 14–16 The ship was owned by a local consortium of nine people, headed by Dewis; among the co-owners was Robert McLellan, the ship's first captain.Fay, p. 46
For the maiden voyage in June 1861, Amazon sailed to Five Islands, Nova Scotia, to take on a cargo of timber for passage across the Atlantic to London. After supervising the ship's loading, Captain McLellan fell ill; his condition worsened. The Amazon returned to Spencers Island, where McLellan died on June 19.Begg, pp. 17–18Fay, p. 48 John Nutting Parker took over as captain and resumed the voyage to London, in the course of which Amazon encountered further misadventures. The ship collided with fishing equipment in the narrows off Eastport, Maine, and after leaving London, ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel.
Parker remained in command for two years, during which Amazon worked mainly in the West Indies trade. The ship crossed the Atlantic to France in November 1861,Fay, pp. 49–50 and in Marseille was the subject of a painting, possibly by Honoré de Pellegrin, a well-known maritime artist of the Marseilles School.Begg, Plate 2, pp. 166–167 In 1863, Parker was succeeded by William Thompson, who remained in command until 1867. These were quiet years; Amazons mate later recalled, "We went to the West Indies, England, and the Mediterranean—what we call the foreign trade. Not a thing unusual happened." In October 1867, at Cape Breton Island, Amazon was driven ashore in a storm and was so badly damaged that her owners abandoned her as a wreck. On October 15, the ship was acquired as a derelict by Alexander McBean, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.Fay, pp. 50–51Begg, p. 19
Ownership reassignment and name change Within a month, McBean sold the wreck to a local businessman, who in November 1868 sold it to Richard W. Haines, an American mariner from New York.Fay, pp. 53–55 Haines paid US$1,750 for the wreck and then spent $8,825 restoring it.Begg, p. 20 He made himself her captain, and in December 1868, registered her with the Collector of the Port of New York as an American vessel, under a new name, Mary Celeste.
In October 1869, the ship was seized by Haines' creditorsHicks, p. 26 and sold to a New York consortium headed by James H. Winchester. During the next three years, the composition of this consortium changed several times, although Winchester retained at least a half-share throughout. No records of Mary Celestes trading activities during this period have been found. Early in 1872, the ship underwent a major refitting, costing $10,000, which enlarged her considerably. Her length was increased to , her breadth to and her depth to .Fay, pp. 199–200Begg, p. 22 Among the structural changes, a second deck was added; an inspector's report refers to extensions to the poop deck, new transoms, and the replacement of many timbers. The work increased the ship's displacement to 282.28 tonnes. On October 29, 1872, the consortium was made up of Winchester with six shares and two minor investors with one share apiece; the remaining four of twelve shares were held by the ship's new captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs.Hastings, p. 13
Captain Briggs and crew
Benjamin Briggs was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1835, one of five sons of sea captain Nathan Briggs. All but one of the sons went to sea, two becoming captains.Begg, p. 24 Benjamin was an observant Christian who read the Bible regularly and often bore witness to his faith at prayer meetings.Fay, p. 22 In 1862, he married his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, and enjoyed a Mediterranean honeymoon on board his schooner Forest King. Two children were born: Arthur in September 1865 and Sophia Matilda in October 1870.Begg, pp. 26–28
By the time of Sophia's birth, Briggs had achieved a high standing within his profession.Fay, pp. 22–23 He considered retiring from the sea to go into business with his seafaring brother Oliver, who had also grown tired of the wandering life. They did not proceed with this project, but each invested his savings in a share of a ship: Oliver invested in Julia A. Hallock and Benjamin in Mary Celeste. In October 1872, Benjamin took command of Mary Celeste for her first voyage following her extensive New York refitting, which was to take her to Genoa in Italy. He arranged for his wife and infant daughter to accompany him,Hicks, p. 7 while his school-aged son was left at home in the care of his grandmother.Fay, p. 17
Briggs chose the crew for this voyage with care.Begg, pp. 33–37 First mate Albert G. Richardson was married to a niece of Winchester's and had sailed under Briggs before.Fay, pp. 24–26 Second mate Andrew Gilling, aged about 25, was born in New York, and was of Danish extraction.Fay, p. 27 The steward, newly married Edward William Head, was signed on with a personal recommendation from Winchester. The four general seamen were Germans from the Frisian Islands (brothers Volkert and Boz Lorenzen), Arian Martens, and Gottlieb Goudschaal. A later testimonial described them as "peaceable and first-class sailors." In a letter to his mother shortly before the voyage, Briggs declared himself eminently satisfied with ship and crew. Sarah Briggs informed her mother that the crew appeared to be quietly capable "... if they continue as they have begun."Hastings, p. 115
Abandonment New York
On October 20, 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50 on the East River in New York CityFay, p. 3 to supervise the loading of the ship's cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol;Hicks, p. 59Hastings, pp. 44–45 his wife and infant daughter joined him a week later. On Sunday, November 3, Briggs wrote to his mother to say that he intended to leave on Tuesday, adding, "our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shall have a fine passage."Fay. p. 9
On the morning of Tuesday, November 5, Mary Celeste left Pier 50 with Briggs, his wife and daughter, and seven crew members, and moved into New York Harbor. The weather was uncertain, and Briggs decided to wait for better conditions. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island,Begg, pp. 30–31 where Sarah used the delay to send a final letter to her mother-in-law. "Tell Arthur," she wrote, "I make great dependence on the letters I shall get from him, and will try to remember anything that happens on the voyage which he would be pleased to hear."Fay, p. 12 The weather eased two days later, and Mary Celeste left the harbor and entered the Atlantic.
While Mary Celeste prepared to sail, the Canadian brigantine lay nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar.Hicks, p. 61 Captain David Morehouse and first mate Oliver Deveau were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen.Begg, pp. 38–39 Captains Briggs and Morehouse shared common interests, and some writers think they likely knew each other, if only casually. Some accounts assert that they were close friends who dined together on the evening before Mary Celestes departure, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow 50 years after the event.Hicks, p. 52 Dei Gratia departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days after Mary Celeste.
Derelict
Dei Gratia reached a position of , midway between the Azores and the coast of mainland Portugal about 1 pm on Wednesday, December 4, 1872, land time (Thursday, December 5, sea time).Hicks, p. 74 Captain Morehouse came on deck, and the helmsman reported a vessel heading unsteadily towards Dei Gratia at a distance around . The ship's erratic movements and the odd set of sails led Morehouse to suspect something was wrong.Begg, pp. 40–41 As the vessel drew close, he could see nobody on deck and received no reply to his signals, so he sent Deveau and second mate John Wright in a ship's boat to investigate. The pair established that this was the Mary Celeste by the name on the ship's stern;Hicks, pp. 73–75 they then climbed aboard and found the ship deserted. The sails were partly set and in poor condition, some missing altogether, and much of the rigging was damaged, with ropes hanging loosely over the sides. The main hatch cover was secure, but the fore and lazarette hatches were open, their covers beside them on the deck. The ship's single lifeboat was a small yawl that had apparently been stowed across the main hatch, but it was missing, while the binnacle housing the ship's compass had shifted from its place and its glass cover was broken.Fay, pp. 38–41 About of water were in the hold, a significant but not alarming amount for a ship of this size.Hicks, p. 76 A makeshift sounding rod (a device for measuring the amount of water in the hold) was found abandoned on the deck.Begg, pp. 43–44