4752) Did You Know Series (156): 1) Mary Celeste one of history’s greatest maritime mysteries of a ship found abandoned and apparently in good sea-worthy shape - a "Ghost Ship?"; 2) How the Media and speculative theories (Newspaper Reports) Built up the mystery; 3) Finally a plausible answer has emerged from recent Chemical & Forensic studies (2025-2026):
1) Mary Celeste one of History's greatest maritime mysteries of a ship foundf abandoned and apparently in good sea-wirthy shape - a Ghost Ship?:
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 Dei Gratia 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.
The Mary Celeste was
discovered abandoned with its crew missing
but the ship largely intact and seaworthy.
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 Celeste's 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.
Historical Background:
- The Mary Celeste, originally named Amazon, was built in 1861 in Spencer’s Island, Nova Scotia, and later sold to American owners who renamed her in 1868.
- By 1872, after extensive refitting that increased her size and added a second deck, she was commanded by Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs.
- On November 7, 1872, the ship departed New
York City for Genoa, Italy, carrying 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol, with
Briggs, his wife Sarah, their two-year-old daughter Sophia, and seven crew
members aboard
Discovery of the Abandoned Mary Celeste Ship:
- On December 4, 1872, the
British brig Dei Gratia, about 400 miles east of the Azores, spotted the Mary
Celeste drifting under partial sail.
- A boarding party found the
ship seaworthy, with cargo intact, personal belongings undisturbed, and a
six-month supply of food and water.
- The only lifeboat was
missing, and one of the pumps had been disassembled. The last log entry was
dated November 25, placing the ship near the Azores
Investigation and
Theories:
A salvage hearing in
Gibraltar found no evidence of foul play, mutiny, or piracy. Over the years,
numerous theories emerged:
Alcohol fumes:
Vapours from leaking barrels may have caused panic, prompting the crew to
abandon ship, though the main hatch was found secured.
Navigational error:
Captain Briggs’ chronometer may have been faulty, leading him to believe the
ship was off course and in danger of running aground.
Pump malfunction and
flooding: Coal dust and debris from previous voyages
may have clogged the pumps, causing Briggs to overestimate the risk of sinking
Natural phenomena:
Waterspouts, rogue waves, or sudden storms were considered but lacked
supporting evidence
Fictional or
sensationalised accounts: Stories of sea monsters,
mutiny, or supernatural causes were popularised by Arthur Conan Doyle and
others but are not supported by historical evidence
The most plausible scenario
suggests that a combination of rough seas, a faulty chronometer, and concerns
about flooding led Captain Briggs to order an evacuation in the lifeboat, which
may have capsized, resulting in the loss of all aboard
Legacy:
The Mary Celeste continued
in service under new owners until 1885, when it was deliberately wrecked off
Haiti in an insurance fraud attempt. The ship’s 1872 abandonment has become a
symbol of maritime mystery, inspiring countless books, films, and stories, and
the name “Mary Celeste” remains synonymous with ghost ships.
Despite extensive
investigation and modern analysis, the fate of Captain Briggs, his family, and
the crew remains unsolved, making the Mary Celeste one of the most enduring
mysteries in nautical history.
Early History of the "Mary Celeste" (earlier called "The Amazon") - The Ship was fraught with misadventures ever sincve her first voyage:
- For her 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Briggs chose his crew with extreme care.
- 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."
The loading of cargo on the Mary Celeste in New York:
- On October 20, 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50 on the East River in New York City to supervise the loading of the ship's cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol;
- 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."
- 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 Harbour.
- The weather was uncertain, and Briggs decided to wait for better conditions. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island, 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."
- 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 Dei Gratia lay nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar.
- Captain David Morehouse and first mate Oliver Deveau were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen.
- 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 Celeste's departure, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow 50 years after the event.
- Dei Gratia departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days after Mary Celeste.
The Captain of the Del Gratia found the Mary Celeste in a derelict condition and with no one on board:
- Dei Gratia reached a position of 38°20′N 17°15′W, 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).
- Captain Morehouse came on deck, and the helmsman reported a vessel heading unsteadily towards Dei Gratia at a distance around six miles (9.7 km).
- The ship's erratic movements and the odd set of sails led Morehouse to suspect something was wrong.
- 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; 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.
- About three and a half feet (1.1 m) of water were in the hold, a significant but not alarming amount for a ship of this size.
- A makeshift sounding rod (a device for measuring the amount of water in the hold) was found abandoned on the deck.
- They found the ship's daily log in the mate's cabin, and its final entry was dated at 8 am on November 25, nine days earlier.
It recorded Mary Celeste's position then as 37°1′N 25°1′W off Santa Maria Island in the Azores, nearly 400 nautical miles (740 km) from the point where Dei Gratia encountered the ship.
- Deveau saw that the cabin interiors were wet and untidy from water that entered through doorways and skylights, but were otherwise in reasonable order.
- He found personal items scattered about Briggs' cabin, including a sheathed sword under the bed, but most of the ship's papers were missing, along with the captain's navigational instruments.
- No signs of fire or violence were obvious; the evidence indicated an orderly departure from the ship by means of the missing lifeboat.
Was the ship abandoned due to pssibility of sinking as water had flooded its hold?
- Briggs' cousin Oliver Cobb suggested that the transfer of personnel to the yawl may have been intended as a temporary safety measure in the wake of anticipated danger.
- He speculated from Deveau's report on the state of the rigging and ropes that the ship's main halyard may have been used to attach the yawl to the ship, enabling the company to return to Mary Celeste when the danger had passed.
- However, Mary Celeste would have sailed away empty if the line had parted, leaving the yawl adrift with its occupants.
Proposed explanations:
Commentators generally agree that some extraordinary and alarming circumstance must have arisen to cause the entire crew to abandon a sound and seaworthy ship with ample provisions.
- Deveau ventured an explanation based on the sounding rod found on deck. He suggested that Briggs abandoned ship after a false sounding because of a malfunction, perhaps of the pumps, that created a false impression that the vessel was rapidly accumulating water.
- A severe waterspout strike before the abandonment could explain the amount of water in the ship and the ragged state of the rigging and sails. The low barometric pressure generated by the spout could have driven water from the bilges up into the pumps, leading the crew to overestimate the amount of water on Mary Celeste and believe that the ship was in danger of sinking.
Fear of an Explosion?
- Arthur N. Putman, a New York insurance appraiser, investigated the records of the event in 1910.
- He noted that the ship's log contained several mentions of ominous rumbling and small explosion sounds from the hold.
- He posited that a more intense explosion had then occurred, and in response, a sailor ventured below deck with an open flame or lit cigar that ignited the fumes, causing an explosion violent enough to dislodge the top of the hatch, which had been found in an unusual position.
- Putman further postulated that in a panicked terror, the captain, his family, and the crew boarded the lone lifeboat, cut the rope, and abandoned Mary Celeste.
2) News Media Retelling and Conjecture on the fate of Mary Celeste: Stories of intrigue & murder:
Fact and fiction became intertwined in the decades that followed:
- The Los Angeles Times retold the Mary Celeste story in June 1883 with invented detail -
"Every sail was set, the tiller was lashed fast, not a rope was out of place. ... The fire was burning in the galley. The dinner was standing untasted and scarcely cold … the log written up to the hour of her discovery."
- The November 1906 Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine reported that Mary Celeste drifted off the Cape Verde Islands, some 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km) south of the actual location. Among many inaccuracies, the first mate was "a man named Briggs", and live chickens were on board.
- The most influential retelling, according to many commentators, was a story in the January 1884 issue of the Cornhill Magazine which ensured that the Mary Celeste affair would never be forgotten.
This was an early work of Arthur Conan Doyle, a 25-year-old ship's surgeon at the time.
Doyle's story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" did not adhere to the facts.
He renamed the ship Marie Celeste, the captain's name was J. W. Tibbs, the fatal voyage took place in 1873, and it was from Boston to Lisbon.
- The vessel carried passengers, among them the titular Jephson.
- In the story, a fanatic named Septimius Goring with a hatred of the white race has suborned members of the crew to murder Tibbs and take the vessel to the shores of Western Africa.
- The rest of the ship's company is killed, save for Jephson, who is spared because he possesses a magical charm that is venerated by Goring and his accomplices.
- Doyle had not expected his story to be taken seriously, but Sprague was still serving as the U.S. consul in Gibraltar and was sufficiently intrigued to inquire if any part of the story might be true.
-The short story did much to disseminate Mary Celeste stories.
- Chambers' Journal of September 17, 1904, suggests that the entire complement of Mary Celeste was plucked off one by one by a giant octopus or squid.
- According to the Natural History Museum, giant squid (Architeuthis dux) can reach 15 m (49 ft) in length and have been known to attack ships.
Begg remarks that such a creature could conceivably have picked off a crew member, but it could hardly have taken the yawl and the captain's navigation instruments.
- In 1913, The Strand Magazine provided an alleged survivor's account from one Abel Fosdyk, supposedly Mary Celeste's steward.
- In this version, the crew had gathered on a temporary swimming platform to watch a swimming contest, when the platform suddenly collapsed.
- All except Fosdyk were drowned or eaten by sharks.
- Unlike Doyle's story, the magazine proposed this as a serious solution to the enigma, but it contained many simple mistakes, including "Griggs" for Briggs, "Boyce" for Morehouse, Briggs' daughter as a seven-year-old child rather than a two-year-old, a crew of 13, and an ignorance of nautical language.
- Many more people were convinced by a plausible literary hoax of the 1920s perpetrated by Irish writer Laurence J. Keating, again presented as a survivor's story of one John Pemberton.
- This one told a complex tale of murder, madness, and collusion with the Dei Gratia.
It included basic errors, such as using Doyle's name (Marie Celeste) and misnaming key personnel. Nevertheless, the story was so convincingly told that the New York Herald Tribune of July 26, 1926, believed its truth to be beyond dispute. Hastings describes Keating's hoax as "an impudent trick by a man not without imaginative ability."
- In 1924, the Daily Express published a story by Captain R. Lucy, whose alleged informant was Mary Celeste's former boatswain, although no such person is recorded in the registered crew list.
In this tale, Briggs and his crew are cast in the role of predators; they see a derelict steamer, which they board and find deserted with £3,500 of gold and silver in the safe.
They decide to split the money, abandon Mary Celeste, and seek new lives in Spain, which they reach by using the steamer's lifeboats.
Hastings finds such an unlikely story being
widely believed for a time to be astonishing; readers, he says, "were
fooled by the magic of print."
- Other explanations have suggested paranormal intervention; an undated edition of the British Journal of Astrology describes the Mary Celeste story as "a mystical experience", connecting it "with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the lost continent of Atlantis, and the British Israel Movement".
- The Bermuda Triangle has been invoked, though Mary Celeste was abandoned in a completely different part of the Atlantic.
- Similar fantasies have considered theories
of abduction by aliens in flying saucers.
Finally a plausible answer has emerged from recent Chemical & Forensic studies (2025-2026):
- Recent forensic and chemical
studies (2025–2026) conclude that the Mary Celeste was abandoned after a
sudden, invisible alcohol‑vapor
explosion caused by leaking red‑oak
barrels of industrial ethanol, creating a pressure wave that panicked the crew
into taking the lifeboat—leading
to their disappearance.
- For more than 150 years, the Mary Celeste (found adrift in 1872) was considered one of history’s greatest maritime mysteries.
3) Modern scientific investigations now provide a coherent, evidence‑based explanation:
Key Findings From Recent Research
1. Leaking Red‑Oak Barrels Created
Dangerous Alcohol Vapours:
Nine barrels in the hold were found empty; forensic analysis shows they were made of porous red oak, not standard white oak.
This allowed hundreds of gallons of ethanol to seep out and vaporize in the sealed hold.
2. A “Cold” Alcohol‑Vapour Explosion Occurred:
Chemists at the University
of Manchester and other researchers demonstrated that ethanol vapour can ignite
in a rapid, pressure‑wave
explosion that produces no burn marks, matching the condition of the recovered
ship.
Experiments using scale models confirmed that such an explosion would be loud, violent, and terrifying—yet leave the ship structurally intact.
3. Crew Likely Abandoned Ship in Panic:
The blast would have convinced Captain Briggs that the ship might catch fire or explode again.
With pumps likely compromised and rough seas creating uncertainty, the crew probably boarded the lifeboat temporarily - intending to return.
A combination of chronometer
error, hydrodynamic drift, and worsening conditions may have prevented them
from re‑boarding, leading to their
loss at sea.
Why This Explanation Fits
All Evidence:
No signs of struggle or
piracy.
Cargo and provisions intact.
No burn marks despite an
explosion—consistent with a pressure‑wave
ignition.
Empty barrels and ethanol
leakage confirmed.
Matches known chemistry, naval architecture, and drift modeling.
Conclusion:
Modern forensic chemistry and mechanical analysis strongly support that the Mary Celeste was abandoned after a sudden alcohol‑vapour explosion and subsequent misjudged evacuation—transforming a legendary “ghost ship” into a scientifically explained maritime accident.
This song lyrics is a lament for a few prominent ships lost at sea:
Downed And Drowned: Song by The Longest Johns:
San Jose was lost at sea
Along with a Spanish company
Their powder caught under fierce attack
The king never got his emeralds back
They're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
The Royal Charter in Dulas bay
One of 200 lost that day
Miners' pockets filled with gold
Dragged them down to the ocean cold
They're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
They're down, drowned in the depths below
Where the sun don't shine and the winds don't blow
And the timbers crack and the mainstay fails
We'll all find peace wrapped within our sails
Mary Celeste was found alone
The fate of her crew is still unknown
Murder, fraud, or acts bizarre
No one can say but chances are
They're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
Hail the revenge for their bravery
Tried to escape fighting 53
The surrender of her last 16 crew
Couldn't save her boards from the briny blue
They're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
They're down, drowned in the depths below
Where the sun don't shine and the winds don't blow
And the timbers crack and the mainstay fails
We'll all find peace wrapped within our sails
Pity the crew of Hermione
Suffered a curse in mutiny
Their vicious captain caused the brawl
Mutineers and victims all
They're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
General Slocum's wheels of wood
Caught ablaze like they never should
Floats of cork filled with weights instead
Sent families off to the riverbed
They're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
They're down, drowned in the depths below
Where the sun don't shine and the winds don't blow
When the timbers crack and the mainstay fails
We'll all find peace wrapped within our sails
All my friends are dead and gone
I'll join them soon, it won't be long
Whether lost at sea or far ashore
To the ocean return forevermore
We're down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
Down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
Down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
Down, downed, and drowned
Downed and drowned and never found
Down, downed, and drowned
Songwriters: David Robinson, Andrew Robert Yates, Jonathan Michael Peter Darley, Robert James Alexander Sattin.
Links:
Mary Celeste, an abandoned Ghost Ship:
Turkish Shipwrecks:
Shipwrecks from Spain:
The Clipper - Cutty Sark:
Links to more posts on Morocco on this Blog:
