Ghost Ship Mary Celeste: The 150 Year Mystery

[Music] on December 13th 1872 150 years ago a ragged tattered Brigantine limped into the port of Gibraltar with a crew of only three this was the Mary Celeste one of the most infamous vessels in history and had been salvaged by these three men from the sailing ship to gratia after the Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Mid-Atlantic ocean what happened to the captain his family and the Seven other crewmen on board remains a mystery to this day foreign [Music] it's not uncommon for ships to have vanished Without a Trace from high profile ones like the Collins liner Pacific or the white star lines neuronic to the many thousands of smaller craft that once lost have simply been forgotten but really it is uncommon for a ship's crew to have completely vanished without any sign of struggle or Peril and for the ship to be able to continue on adrift in near perfect condition it's a story that's been told and retold countless times and written and Rewritten just as often for the 150th anniversary of the finding of the vessel we're going to recount the facts returning to the original Source material looking all the way back to where the ship was first built going into greater detail than just the cursory ghost story we're looking back at the True full story of this bizarre unlucky historical ship in the 150 years since this great mystery unfolded the facts have been obscured but I've done my best to cut through the rumors and secondhand information I can't say that my telling of the story is perfect but it's not embellished and it's the best that I can do with a stack of first-hand accounts welcome to the Bay of Fundy home of the most extreme tides in the world and a rich shipbuilding Heritage it was the birthplace of over a thousand ships from the early 1800s onward most of which were successful yet humble Coastal Schooners plying local Waters and never getting into any sort of trouble however nearly a hundred of these vessels from the shore have vanished Without a Trace the story of the Mary Celeste begins in 1860 with a Nova Scotia man named Joshua dewas Joshua dewas was a local man having been born in the town of economy and was one of the early shipbuilders of the minus Basin on the Bay of Fundy he mainly built smaller Schooners meant to bring Goods to and from the marketplaces of the population centers around the bay such as Kentville or parsborough these were mostly smaller craft primarily smaller than 100 tons but a shipbuilding Around The Bay evolved so did the size of their crafts by 1860 dewas was looking to both relocate and expand his craft he moved from economy down to Advocate Harbor on nearby Cape door seeking a new location to build his Shipyard Advocate Harbor was already a proven shipbuilding town but the nearby town of Spencer's Island offered a couple unique advantages Spencer's island is actually on the mainland it's not an island it's a town named after this island out here which is called Spencer's Island the First Advantage that the town of Spencer's Island offered was that it was protected from the storms which frequently ravaged the exposed coastal town of advocate as Spencer's Island was on the protected side of Cape door Spencer's Island also offered the advantage that it was abundant in Timber while the shipyards of advocate had already deforested much of the land immediately around the town Spencer's Island was forested right up to the Shoreline in fact as the slipway was laid on the beach and the frame of the first vessel was being built the yard workers were still with an earshot of The Lumberjacks harvesting the timber it was also a tight Community mostly related to each other through blood or marriage the majority of the woodlands near Spencer's Island were owned by Two Brothers Jacob and Isaac Spicer who lived in Spencer's Island and it just so happened that Jacob Spicer and Joshua do as wives were sisters was able to convince the spicers to invest in his new shipbuilding Venture with the spicers supplying the lumber in exchange for 1 8 each in the first vessel the Keel of that first vessel was laid sometime in the fall of 1860 with plans to launch with the high spring tides while Spencer's Island an advocate had become a quaint comfortable Community the new Spencer's Island Shipyard was indeed primitive and simple their first vessel slowly rising up on the timber slipway during the cold Nova scotian winter truly was built by hand the site had no Mill to turn the trees into planks and beams the timber coming into the yard had to be shaped with ax and saw an actual schematic plans for the ship were minimal the new Shipyard had no designated crew bunk houses instead the shipyard workers actually slept on the first floor of the homes of the company Executives this house was the home to Captain w h Bigelow who owned 1 16th share of this new vessel and locals believe that many of the shipyard workers stayed there living in this house while the ship was being built I live in Captain Bigelow's house and in his house all the workmen would have lived also there would have been the workmen and the maid and the family by early December the ship had been framed out the Keel was fully laid the ribs were in place they will be left like this exposed to the elements all winter in order to season the wood allowing the moisture from inside the Timbers to escape and strengthen the ship's frame while the workers were on leave for the season dewis and the spicers went about acquiring the materials needed to finish the vessel once Springtime came around when it finally did the hull was completed and it was coated in salt to dry the last of the wood before being caulked and finished the sails were imported from either Halifax or Windsor this new ship the first of the Spencer's Island yard would eventually become the infamous Mary Celeste but she wasn't launched with that name at her launching this ship Hull number one was actually called the Amazon a name chosen by Joshua dewas himself now ships are often referred to as if they're females by their crew and their Builders and as this was the biggest and toughest ship that Joshua do was had yet built it's possible that by choosing that name he was drawing on the Amazon women from Greek mythology but this was never confirmed he never really gave a reason why he chose the name Amazon it's often said in dramatic retellings of the Mary Celeste Saga that the Amazon at its launch fouled up somehow either getting stuck on the slipway or even hurting somebody but those in attendance whether Spectators or even the owners or Builders adamantly denied this the ship launched simply and successfully the age of sail Museum in Port gravel Nova Scotia has a collection of posters advertising the launch of Spencer's Island vessels although these are dated several years after the launching of the Amazon they let us know the kind of festivities that would accompany a Spencer's Island launch for example following the main event would be an afternoon tea and a bit of a rummage sale today nothing remains of the early Shipyard and the Amazon slipway the yard changed significantly over the years as nearly 30 more ships were built at Spencer's Island foundations have a pier that was built in the later 1800s are still visible where the ships would drop off their goods for the yard and the general store nearby eventually the yard built a Mill and the base of the pilings still stand too a few of the buildings in Spencer's Island from the early days still stand including the home of Mr Bigelow as well as the home of the shipyard's blacksmith Frederick D wolf the Amazon was Brigantine rigged with two masts two deck houses and a square stern she was 99 feet long with a breath of 25 and a half feet with a gross tonnage of 198 and a half tons one of the larger ships of the Bay of fundia at the time but not a particularly noteworthy construction on her Stern read the name Amazon and her first Port of registration parsborough Nova Scotia she was to be the beginning of a successful shipbuilding industry in the small town of Spencer's Island but her launching marked the start of a very odd and bizarre unlucky career for the vessel herself her first Captain was a man named Robert McClellan recently married and he was to sail the ship to the nearby town of five Islands which like Spencer's Island was not actually an island let alone five Islands it was to be loaded up with a cargo of lumber there for a transatlantic Voyage taking the lumber across the ocean to the River Thames in London Captain McClellan had been sick but he believed that the Sea Air would improve his condition once the ship was loaded up the amazon set out into the Bay of Fundy to start its Voyage but before it had even cleared the bay Captain McClellan developed a bad pneumonia the first mate turned the ship about and put into Spencer's Island where the sick Captain was brought ashore he was carried up the hill to this house A Home of one of the owners of the ship Jacob Spicer in only a short time the Amazon's first Captain the young newlywed Captain McClellan died in the Spicer home a home which still stands today overlooking the old Shipyard site [Music] mcclellan's body was loaded back on board the ship sailed to the nearby town of economy Captain mcclellan's Home Port as the ship sailed up to the wharf which in 1861 stood right where we're standing his bride now Widow rushed out of the town and down to the shore to find out why her husband's ship had returned so soon it was a heartbreaking scene that the crew of the Amazon would never forget and the very first thing that the Amazon had delivered in her entire career was the body of her first Captain home to his widow Captain McClellan was buried in the nearby economy cemetery and his grave can still be found [Music] a captain named Jack Parker took over command and would take the ship to London as initially intended however before striking out across the Atlantic the ship put into Eastport Maine at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy where it snared on fishing wires needing to sit at anchor for some days until repairs were made after that the crossing was uneventful until it put into London the cargo of lumber was discharged and then a new shipment was picked up this one intended for Portugal she sailed Down the River Thames and out into the Strait of Dover where she collided with a British Brig the brig heaved and began rapidly sinking with her crew abandoning it as quickly as possible after assessing that the Amazon would stay afloat the Briggs crew climbed aboard thankfully all survived the wreck of the brig and her displaced crew was dropped off by the Amazon in the town of Dover while the Amazon was repaired for a second time the cargo was dropped off in Lisbon and shortly after sale to marsai in November 1861. the earliest known image that we have of the Amazon is this painting allegedly painted by a local Maritime artist named honori de bellegrin and it was painted while the ship was here in marsai for years the ship uneventfully plined the Atlantic sailing the Mediterranean importing and exporting goods from the West Indies and frequently returning home to Nova Scotia under a new Commander named Captain William Thompson [Music] in the fall of 1867 the ship picked up a cargo of corn from Baltimore Maryland and brought it up to Halifax Nova Scotia talking somewhere along here on the Halifax Waterfront foreign over the years that Captain Thompson was in command of the Amazon the owners in Spencer's Island became dissatisfied with him and while the ship was docked here in Halifax they sent notice to Captain Thompson saying hold the ship here they're sending a replacement Captain to relieve him of his duty and take over command of the ship it was now November and at this time of the year this area of Nova Scotia particularly up North near Cape Breton received some pretty rough winter storms in fact so rough that the Amazon's insurance policy specifically prohibits the ship from sailing around Cape Breton after November 1st because it's just simply too dangerous for a ship like that one of the investors Sons a man named George Spicer had been a crewman of the Amazon up to this point and as soon as Captain Thompson received the notice that he was being relieved of Duty he promptly discharged George Spicer and kicked him off here in Halifax and then he took the Ship Without cargo up north to Cape Breton and he and record near big Glace Bay awaiting some shipment of coal to arrive well as expected a strong winter Gale sprung up allegedly and forced the Amazon onto the beach Captain Thompson reported to the owners in Spencer's Island that the ship was severely crippled and would require expensive repairs if it were to be refloated but the insurance company refused to cover these costs because the ship had wrecked in Cape Breton after November 1st which they specifically told them not to do well the owners in Nova Scotia had no choice but to abandon the ship now very quickly suspiciously quickly even the Amazon was claimed by a new owner a man named Alexander McBean who registered the ship to Sydney Nova Scotia here's why that's suspicious Nova Scotia law at the time says you can't register a ship to a New Port unless the ship is in seaworthy condition within a mere week the Amazon was not only registered to a New Port but then purchased again and reread registered meaning that in order to be registered the ship was actually in much better condition than Captain Thompson reported Captain Thompson had scammed the owners out of their vessel and allegedly had actually set up an underhanded transaction to sell the ship to McBean the loss of their bread winning ship seriously hurt the Spencer's Island community and from then on they referred to the Amazon as the ship that forced them to eat with tin spoons McBean resold it to a man named John Beatty and BD owned the ship for less than a year before it wrecked in Maine forcing the ship to be abandoned once more while the wreck was recovered again and towed to New York for a public auction where she was bought by a man named Richard W Haynes for Seventeen hundred and fifty dollars Haynes registered the ship in New York now because it was initially a foreign vessel that was being imported and will be sailing under the American flag Haynes would have to pay import duties on the ship in order to register it well he skipped paying the fee and instead just slapped a new name on the Amazon and hoped that nobody would notice it's the old Nova scotian ship when later confronted about skipping this fee well he's he said that he gave the ship a whole new Keel he replaced all of the stern and most of the hull claiming that these repairs totaled more than twice the cost of the original construction of the vessel and therefore he might as well have built a new ship from scratch anyway whether he spent all that money rebuilding the ship or not has been debated by historians I personally believe he didn't I'll get more into that later the new name he gave the Amazon was the Mary Celeste why he chose this name is uncertain but it means Heavenly Mary or Mary of Heaven Haynes sailed as captain of the Mary Celeste but had little success with her sinking deeper and deeper into debt until finally the ship was seized for Sheriff's sale within 10 months of his initial purchase James Winchester a former sea captain purchased the Mary Celeste now funny enough his life actually traces the same path as the Mary celeste's career had to this point Winchester was born in Nova Scotia and then moved to Eastport Maine becoming an American citizen and moving to New York City Mary celeste's New Home Port shortly after Winchester acquired the ship a deputy surveyor visited Winchester in his office and he told him that the previous owner of the Mary Celeste had neglected to pay the proper import fees and therefore the registration of the ship was fraudulent now clearly Winchester was an innocent party to this fraud so if Winchester paid the man the cash for the import fees right then and there the case would be dropped and he'd be spared jail time in case you can't recognize it this is pure blackmail and Winchester called him on this well the survey decided to push the case and attempted to legally Seize The Vessel Winchester fought him in court and eventually won then came the next problem for Winchester evidently haynes's claimed that he spent eight or nine thousand dollars rebuilding the ship a year prior was false because Winchester found that the Mary Celeste was terribly rotten and in dire need of a near complete rebuild totaling 11 500 dollars the ship was stripped down to the water line and built again this time adding an additional deck and slightly changing her rigging instead of the initial 198 tons the Mary Celeste now had a tonnage of 282 tons this overhaul hit Winchester's Pockets hard and he sold a third interest in the vessel to a Massachusetts Captain named Benjamin Briggs who would take over as commander of the ship his first trip with the Mary Celeste would take him from New York City across the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar and to Genoa Italy Benjamin Spooner Briggs the infamous captain of the Mary Celeste on this his first and only Crossing with the vessel he is at least the ship's sixth captain in the last 11 years and the man is American through and through his ancestors came over on the Mayflower while other ancestors of his fought in the American Revolution only a stone's throw away from where the first shots were fired Briggs was a family man and wished for his wife and family to accompany him on this Crossing briggs's wife Sarah Briggs was his childhood sweetheart and together they had two children Arthur was about eight years old and Sophie was two Arthur was busy with his schooling so he'd stay behind with his grandparents Mary Celeste would carry 10 people on this Voyage Bound for Italy Captain Briggs his wife Sarah his daughter Sophie and seven crew the first mate was from Maine a man named Albert Richardson the second mate was Andrew Gilling of New York and the cook was Edmund head also of New York like the ship's first Captain Robert McClellan Mr head had married just shortly before the voyage the other four crew were all able-bodied Sailors and all from Prussia two were brothers folkert and box Lorenzen then Aryan Martins and Gottlieb godshard briggs's first impression of the Prussian Sailors was that they were good men and sailors but perhaps not the smartest Owen board was also the ship's cat whom young Sophie affectionately referred to as puapu don't know why the Mary Celeste sat tied to the New York Pier through October and into November Of 1872 preparing for this trip to Italy the pier was Pier 50 on the East River now in the early 1900s the New York City piers were mostly rebuilt and renumbered Pier 50 at the time the spot where the Mary Celeste laid in wait was at the foot of Barrow Street for a few days before departing New York the Briggs family called the Celeste their home while still moored at Pier 50. with his wife and daughter there it was a cozy ship they regularly played music on their melodion which they brought with them wrote letters to friends and family and on one day entertained Sarah's brother and his wife as comfortable as it was Briggs still missed his son and thought on more than one occasion of sending for him and telling him that he could skip the rest of the school year and accompany them on this voyage 1701 barrels of alcohol were taken aboard and stowed in the ship's hold the barrels were laid on their side with pieces of wood wedged between to prevent rolling alcohol is one of the more dangerous cargos to transport if not properly vented fumes could build up Tuesday November 5th was the day that the Mary Celeste would set sail being towed from the pier but winds and fogs prompted Captain Briggs to Anchor off Staten Island for two nights until the weather cleared in this time Sarah Briggs wrote one final letter home to her mother-in-law two days later the weather cleared and the Mary Celeste raised anchor and set out into the Atlantic there's another ship sitting nearby only a mile away from Pier 50 in Hoboken New Jersey the de gratia a similar vessel in many ways she was a similar construction a similar tonnage and also sporting a Latin name this one meaning the grace of God she was to sail along the same path Bound for Genoa departing about a week after the Mary Celeste the day grazia was also built on the Bay of Fundy but on the South side at Bear River Nova Scotia however unlike the Mary Celeste the de gratia was still registered to Nova Scotia and still had a Nova scotian crew under the command of a captain David Morehouse it is rumored that Captain Morehouse and Captain Briggs of the Mary Celeste were friends but this can't be substantiated The dagarazia Departed Hoboken on November 15 1872 with a cargo of petroleum eight days and 1200 miles behind the Mary Celeste from the moment they set off they encountered rough seas and Stormy Weather every day of the trip staying battened down the entire time and keeping their hatches securely fastened the Mary Celeste made good Headway but would have experienced the same exact storm that the day grazia was sailing through on November 25th the Azor Islands were spotted about 20 days after setting sail it poured rain the winds howled the ship creaked and groaned as it tossed in the gigantic swells the poor 10 people on board were thrown about inside the ship as was the volatile Cargo in her hole the degratia encountered this storm on its Crossing reaching the Azores at the beginning of December while the Celeste sailed to the south of the Azores the degrassias sailed to the north and their paths reconverged after the islands in the afternoon of December 5th Captain Morehouse spotted sales about five miles off the port bow slowly approaching them he looked through his glass and saw no one on the deck more specifically no one at the helm the sails were unkempt the ship was drifting erratically Captain Morehouse knew something was very wrong the crew of the day grazia tried multiple times to hail this mystery ship without any success until finally Captain Morehouse ordered his first mate Oliver Devoe and second mate John Wright accompanied by Seaman John Johnson to take one of the day grazia's boats row over and investigate this odd ship the de gratia approached this vessel cautiously until it was close enough for the sailors to row over Johnson stayed on a rowboat while the two mates climbed aboard finding no one at all on Deck here's where fiction often takes over the story many popular retellings will claim that the Mary Celeste had maintained her course perfectly with no one on board some tellings will also say that the logbook of the ship was kept until the very hour that the degratia found the ship they'll also say that fresh hot food was still sitting on the dining tables no none of that's true but in order to understand a clear picture of the finding of the Mary Celeste we have to know what is true here are the simple facts as originally reported by the crew of the day grazia before they started changing it we'll get to that later on approaching the ship first mate Devoe noted that the sails were tattered out of order and hanging ragged there was indication that some of them had hastily been pulled down absolutely nobody was on board there wasn't even sign of the ship's cat a portion of railing on the port side was missing the first thing that the first mate Devoe did was check to ensure that the ship's pumps were still functional they were in perfect working order but three and a half feet of water was sloshing about inside the holes of the ship Devoe then went into the cabins and found that everything was soaking wet many of the windows on the deck houses were covered in boards and canvas indicating that the Mary celeste's crew had battened down for shelter during the storms however the cabin's Skylight was propped open and letting rain water in the obvious source for everything getting soaked the beds of the captain and family had been slept in but weren't made now this is pretty significant certainly Sarah Briggs would not go too long in the day without having made those beds meaning that celeste's crew had Departed the ship early in the morning shortly after waking up chillingly the impression of the two-year-old Briggs girl was still plainly visible on the bed new nearly all of the belongings of the captain his family and crew had been left behind they didn't find any belongings of the Lorenzen Brothers but this is because all of their stuff was lost in a shipwreck earlier that year when they boarded the Mary Celeste they didn't have anything the ship still carried enough food and water to last for the rest of the voyage and then some in fact nothing was really missing except for what had been consumed in the first few weeks of the trip as in nothing substantial was taken with them the ship's log had been filled in up until November 24th 10 days prior to the discovery of the ship the log slate however a temporary chalkboard where they would take notes for the day and then at the end of the day transcribe it into the official log did have the beginning of an entry for November 25th Captain Morehouse and his mates conferred aboard the dagratia about what to do with this derelict they were certainly less concerned about the fate of the missing crew than they were excited about the possibility of the Salvage reward that they were going to be getting which to me indicates that Morehouse and Captain Briggs were not likely close friends they certainly couldn't tow the ship to port the first mate Devoe was convinced that the Mary Celeste was in near perfect shape and could easily be made ready to sail again Captain Morehouse had agreed leaving the Mary Celeste in devoe's command and gave him two men one of the boats navigational tools and whatever Provisions they could spare within a few hours Devoe and his men had the Mary Celeste in functional order and the day grazia continued on to Gibraltar by that evening the Celeste was underway as well having been pumped out and replacement sales found on board first mate Devoe now captain of the Ghost Ship had maintained the ship's log going forward on The Voyage to Gibraltar he also used the log slate inadvertently a racing Captain briggs's handwritten notes for November 25th and that is now lost to history another storm whipped up and the Celeste held off an extra day while waiting for the weather to clear before entering the Strait of Gibraltar only one day after the day grazia for a small crew of three men to have repaired a derelict vessel at Sea and sailed her 600 miles partly through a storm and bringing her and her cargo safely into port in only one day more than a fully functional vessel is no small feat promptly the ship was seized pending the investigation of The Disappearance of the crew while the de grazia crew testified for their Salvage rights like millions of people in the 150 years since the investigators simply couldn't wrap their heads around a perfectly sound vessel being abandoned mid-ocean without any signs of struggle or impending Peril they launched a full investigation suspecting Foul Play of course and searched the ship from top to bottom concluding that yes the Mary Celeste was indeed in near perfect condition a sword was found under the bed of Captain Briggs the investigators claimed that there was blood on it which is occasionally brought up in Mary Celeste theories but chemical tests found no traces of Blood on the sword or on any part of the deck for that matter the sword was simply Rusty theories have Arisen over the years as to why the perfectly good Mary Celeste was abandoned and her crew never seen again one of the ones that has persisted through the years and was even brought up during the investigation was murder did the owner Captain Winchester hire the crew to kill Briggs and his family for the insurance money there was absolutely no sign of struggle and there's really no evidence to suggest this on top of that the belongings of the crew was also left behind a later theory is that the crew of the day gratia sailed to the Azores and waited there for the Mary Celeste before capturing her murdering her crew and bringing her in for the Salvage money because with that cargo Salvage is going to be very high this simply isn't possible because again there were no signs of struggle and on top of that the de grazia was a slower ship there was simply no way that under normal circumstances the day grazia would have been able to catch up with the Mary Celeste and plan an ambush expanding on that last Theory some have suggested that the Briggs family themselves were in on the scheme and that there was no murder the day grazia just claimed the ship had been abandoned and Briggs and his family disappeared while the best evidence against this is that they left their eight-year-old son at home unless they really didn't like him they wouldn't have done that if they were going to vanish Into Obscurity could Pirates have attacked the ship again no sign of struggle and the valuable cargo was still left in the hold proponents of the previously mentioned violent theories have often brought up the sword as evidence but that sword was disproven as quickly as it was found other theories have Arisen over the years including some of the more bizarre ones such as underwater earthquakes or waterspouts hitting the ship causing it to rapidly flood the crew to panic and abandon it not only are they far out there and highly unlikely but they're also instantaneous they would either completely destroy the ship in a near instance or they would pass quickly and leave the crew to realize that yes they were damaged yes they took on water but they're not sinking and they don't need to abandon the ship an anonymous author wrote in 1884 that the ship was carrying passengers which it wasn't and one of them went crazy and killed almost everyone on board the name of the ship was the Marie Celeste a misspelling that continues to this day sometimes the anonymous author turned out to be none other than Arthur Conan Doyle creator of Sherlock Holmes the story was meant to be fiction but it did rekindle the interest in the mystery other theories have also been suggested such as sea monsters or aliens or something to do with Atlantis I won't bother explaining those but they are pretty funny I walked you through those alternative theories to lead you to what I think is the most likely scenario precisely what transpired aboard the Mary Celeste no one will ever know the Witnesses are long gone the evidence is long gone and the more that time elapses the muddier the story becomes with all things considered let's review what I think is the most likely scenario 1701 barrels of alcohol are loaded into the hold of the Mary Celeste at Pier 50 New York it had been a cool few days in New York City leading up to departure and through its brief Staten Island Anchorage as the alcohol sat in the ship's holds on November 7th the Mary Celeste left the harbor behind and made its way into the Atlantic encountering rough storms not long after the storms through the cargo of alcohol around in their casks while the storm also brought atmospheric pressure changes once the ship hit the Gulf Stream and approached the European side of the Atlantic the temperatures warmed all this leads to an excess of fumes coming out of the casks either directly out of cracks and leaks or seeping through the wood itself it was common practice during good weather to open the cargo hatches and ventilate the holes we see on the day grazia for the entirety of the storm during their first week or so of the voyage they were forced to keep these cargo hatches closed Mary Celeste likely had to as well there are several instances in the celeste's log where rumbling is noted in the cargo hold they were well aware that the alcohol fumes were building up on the morning of November 25th Captain Briggs awoke to find a break in the weather the bad fumes in the cargo hold were likely on their mind and they took advantage of the storm's respite to open up the hatches and vent those toxic fumes let's pause here and take a look at a similar contemporary vessel the Julia a halleck was carrying a large shipment of petroleum when her crew noticed that the barrels were rubbing together causing friction causing fumes when ships like the halleck finally vented their cargo holds and let out that buildup of these fumes it wasn't uncommon for a great groaning to be heard all throughout the ship to an almost imperceivable degree these fumes were in fact inflating the wooden vessel and as the fumes were relieved the ship creaked and deflated with the Mary Celeste venting off perhaps two or more weeks worth of alcohol fumes accumulated in the large cargo hole to the ship The Vessel doubtlessly groaned and wailed for some time no doubt causing alarm among the crew other things may have happened on board as the plumes of alcohol filled the air the oil lamps may have flared wildly headaches and weariness may have quickly befell the crew but what might make a grown man feel sick for a bit could be significantly more harmful for someone smaller like a two-year-old girl Captain Briggs was now faced with a terrible Choice put his family and crew in a small boat and hope for the best or stay on board the larger vessel and risk the fumes and even a potential explosion Captain Benjamin Briggs was not a fool he was a reasonable man with a cool temper who got along with his crew and with the presence of his wife and his daughter he certainly wasn't going to take any risks that he didn't deem necessary whatever their reasoning Captain Briggs chose the latter and the ship's boat was put in the water on the leeward side of the ship the port side as the hull continued to Creak loudly a portion of railing was removed to do so the bare necessities were collected and whoever rummaged through the cabins for them hastily opened the Skylight while they were in there letting out the accumulating fumes that made their way up they probably expected to be in the boat for no more than a few hours and some of the sails were hastily dropped in fact some of the sales were not even rolled up they were just dropped on the deck they didn't take down all the sails though there simply wasn't enough time a line was attached to the little boat and the Briggs family climbed aboard the entire crew accompanied them putting as much distance between them and the ship as their 300 foot line would allow they needed to get away from the fumes they needed to get away from a potential explosion archival weather reports for that part of the Azores indicate that shortly after that break in the weather in the morning rain squalls and winds quickly whipped up the remaining sails still flying on the Mary Celeste would have brought the ship up to a quick speed if caught by the wind just right and the crew on the robo would have had no way to pull themselves back to the ship they would have been battling Against the Wind as the rain and the rough Seas quickly swamped the boat had they kept trying to pull themselves to the now speeding Mary Celeste their boat would have been wrecked in the process had they cut themselves loose and tried to row to the nearby island of Santa Maria a mere six miles away well records showed that the wind was blowing strongly against them out into the Open Sea they were hopelessly doomed a Lifeboat adrift if the Mary celeste's crew had survived long enough to be adrift is not easily found especially in that era two decades prior the steamship Arctic went down in the North Atlantic with lifeboats full of passengers and crew rowing away into the fog and simply never having been found the Mary Celeste had an 8 to 10 Day lead on the day grazia and it took eight to ten days from the time that the Mary Celeste was abandoned for the day grazia to find her flooded with nearly four feet of water in the holes which came in through the opened cargo hatches the Mary Celeste drifted 378 miles east from her abandonment when the day grazia found her but her exact path is unknown by this time the wind had turned the ship fully around and she was sailing back West back toward the scene of the disaster that befell the ten Souls on board [Music] from there the day grazia crew brought the ship in and the rest of the story we already know the theory that I just gave is what I feel is the most likely Theory to have happened based on the original evidence from the crew of the de gratia it is not my own save for some of the details filling in some of the Loose Ends but instead it's a theory that's been around for some time first being suggested by one of briggs's own relatives Dr Oliver Cobb it's realistic it's practical and according to Occam's razor the simpler theory is often the more likely one as the day grazius crew testified later in the day they started to detect the suspicion that the court was casting on them and they started to elaborate on their stories were they being truthful and giving new information that had just returned to their minds and they just remembered or were they trying to tell the court what they thought they wanted to hear and deflect scrutiny new claims arose such as finding a disassembled water pump on the deck or a sounding Rod that had been improvised and dropped there as well this would imply that the ship was taking on water rapidly and the crew of the Mary Celeste panicked realizing they couldn't save the ship and had to abandon it this is contradicted by the simple fact that the Mary Celeste did not sink Captain Winchester the owner of the Mary Celeste came to Gibraltar to claim his ship and to provide a new captain to complete the voyage to Genoa upon his arrival he was promptly given a bill for the investigation the Salvage the holding of the ship had any other conceivable expense they could think of he didn't object to the more reasonable costs such as the Salvage fee but he refused to pay for the investigators time especially since they were dragging on for months in the end the degrassias crew was paid a salvage fee of 20 the value of the vessel the cargo was found to be in good order and intact although some leakage may have occurred finally after all was said and done it was delivered to Italy under a new captain the court proceedings were not concluded until March 1873. no doubt the story of the Mary Celeste and its Salvage was big news all across its home province of Nova Scotia but the story was quickly replaced by the wreck of the white Starliner Atlantic crashed on the Rocks near Halifax Nova Scotia on April 1st 1873 less than a month after the conclusion of the Celeste investigation after the Celeste returned to New York in September 1873 Winchester promptly sought to sell it but the haunted reputation of the Mary Celeste was so widely publicized that nobody would go near it finally it was sold at a loss to a firm called Cartwright and Harrison with them it sailed for five years mostly in the West Indies in 1879 she was hired to carry a shipment of horses around Africa but they fell ill and few survived a voyage that same year while sailing around Saint Helena her Captain fell ill the ship docked and the captain died only a few hours after the third Captain to meet an unfortunate end while engaged with the vessel again she was sold at a loss this time to a man named Wesley Gove after four years of losing money the captain and the owner cooked up a scheme to intentionally wreck the ship in 1884. the cargo was overinsured claiming it was worth around twenty five thousand dollars when in reality it carried only a few worthless things as well as a shipment of spoiled liquor foreign the captain of a final voyage was a man named Parker just as a different Captain Parker Captain the ship for her first voyage when they set sail for this Voyage he let the crew in on his plans to wreck the ship While most of the crew were not in on the insurance scheme they seemed to have gone along with it under the impression that the Mary Celeste was an evil ship that needed to be destroyed the plan was to run the ship aground on Turks Island against the rocky Cliffs the first mate fought this pleading to wreck the ship elsewhere as the Cliffs of Turks Island was certain death Parker relented and they agreed to run up on the nearby well-marked Reef the Celeste flew Full Sail gaining speed as the ship neared the reef [Music] he sprayed in her wake and the sails billowed the masts and the beams creaked as the ships soared forward the crew braced themselves holding on tightly as they raced up onto the reef [Music] he let the crew take what they wanted of the ship's alcohol before they rode away unfortunately in abandoning the ship captain Parker Left Behind the ship's log book with entries dating all the way back to Captain Briggs the logbook was lost as the ship crumbled to the Sea everything that we do know from the log including the stuff that I was mentioning earlier is all stuff that was quoted in the transcripts of the Mary Celeste inquiry of 1873. Parker sold the Salvage rights for five hundred dollars and then filed insurance claims for the loss of the vessel and cargo the insurance company saw right through the scheme and sent an investigator who found that the ship's cargo was nothing more than rotten fish rancid ale and worthless junk the owner and the crew were brought to court eventually being forced to return the insurance money in order to avoid jail time as well as to avoid the charges of intentionally wrecking your own ship which at the time carried the death penalty that may actually have been the wrong bargain though because the owner the captain and the first mate the three men responsible for the final destruction of the Mary Celeste we're all dead within six months furthermore there were two vessels that were involved in the investigation and the destruction of the Mary Celeste they were chartered by the investigator from the insurance company as he went down and looked into the cargo and looked into the wreck one was the steamer Saxon and one was the Schooner Mary D Douglas immediately after the conclusion of the trial both ships on their very first voyage afterwards were lost with all on board thank you at the site where the ship was built a monument resembling a stone Cairn stands with a bronze plaque noting the site's connection to the infamous ship a local story holds that after the Mary Celeste was wrecked in Haiti and deemed a total loss her Builders the Spencer's Island company was offered the chance to buy her but they passed on the opportunity probably for the best if you want to visit Spencer's Island check out local guy Adventures he hosts tours programs and campouts right there on the beach where the old Shipyard was after a long day of paddle boarding and biking around these beautiful historic Waters you can camp in one of their comfortable wooden tents the remains of the vessel had been hidden for many many years until 2001 when Eco Nova Nova Scotia company with author Clive Kessler found what they believed were the remains of the Mary Celeste off of Haiti embedded in the same Reef that she crashed into artifacts from the Clive Cussler wreck can be seen at the age of sail Museum in Port graville Nova Scotia included in the pieces that were found are deck nails there's also pieces of the copper chafing that would have been on the hall looking at the pieces it's hard to determine exactly what part of the vessel they would have been from but you can see the grains of the wood and the size of the wood there's also ballast rock that was there which helped again in determining that it was the Mary Celeste a few minutes drive from Spencer's Island where the ship was built with a rich history of shipbuilding all throughout the Bay of Fundy the age of sail museum is a wonderful Museum that's well worth a visit if you're looking for an off the beaten path Excursion in Nova Scotia it has all sorts of shipbuilding artifacts and Exhibits including a dedicated display of the Mary Celeste you can find out more information by visiting our website at ageofsalemuseum.ca or following us on Facebook the Mary Celeste has become synonymous with the very idea of a ghost ship being the first ship that people think of when they hear the term the unusual circumstances the near perfect condition of the derelict and the odd extended career of this vessel has a hold on our imagination that has lasted for generations and likely will for some time if you've enjoyed this video consider subscribing to my channel I often dive into subjects of Maritime history or ghost towns and frequently tell Tales of Adventure and exploration [Music] and as always a special thank you to my supporters on patreon especially Marlo Perez Kelly black Kaiser Wilhelm II Trent Greger Zach Richards Donald Anderson Cody Hendricks Joan Haynes Sean Kimball Glenn bidiscombe Rob M Amos Mayhew Corey Andrews Nicholas masella zolt Bogner coltanic Sophie baber Jacob Martin Hansen Stephen schwankert Rob Oliver chin Chen John Holland John miloski and David witipka [Music]

Channel: Part-Time Explorer

Views: 1,310,260

Keywords:

Id: dew4ZrTnMeE

Length: 51min 19sec (3079 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 12 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Blackswan46]

Excellent

[u/Kaidhicksii]

I haven't made time to watch the whole thing yet, but knowing Tom, it's going to be exceptional as always.

[u/Winter-Eye5889]

My favorite channel on YouTube!