Ghost ship “Mary Celeste” – a crew disappears without a trace

December 4, 1872
Ghost ship “Mary Celeste” – a crew disappears forever without a trace

by Annette Berger
December 4th, 2021, 8:21 am

It is December 4, 1872 – exactly 149 years ago today. The merchant ship “Dei Gratia” is about 1000 kilometers west of Portugal on its course from North America across the Atlantic towards the Strait of Gibraltar and on to the Mediterranean Sea. Then a helmsman notices another ship.

But something seems to be wrong with that sailor. Although the ship looks seaworthy, it appears to be drifting aimlessly and off course. Apparently it is leaderless.

The crew of the “Dei Gratia” around Captain David Morehouse carefully watches the ship. Morehouse notices that he knows it: it is the “Mary Celeste”, a two-masted sailing ship, on which his friend Benjamin Briggs is in command – an experienced and excellent captain.

“Mary Celeste” was supposed to bring ethanol from New York to Genoa

The “Mary Celeste” left New York on November 7th to bring a load of raw alcohol for fortifying wine to Genoa in Italy. But why is it now drifting aimlessly back and forth in the middle of the Atlantic?

After a few hours, Morehouse decides to see what’s going on with the “Mary Celeste” and gives the order to board. The scenario his people discover on board will forever remain one of the greatest mysteries in the history of Western seafaring. Because the 31 meter long “Mary Celeste” is deserted. There is no trace of the crew of the American freighter – there were seven other sailors besides Captain Briggs. Briggs’ wife and two-year-old daughter also traveled with them. Where did all these people go?

On board the “Mary Celeste” the water is about three feet high, as it is said. A “wet mess,” they say. The ship is maneuverable, but some things on board have been destroyed. The cookware is scattered around in the galley, an oven is no longer in its place and has been torn from its holder, navigation equipment and some ship’s papers are missing. Everything looks like the ship was left hastily.

Almost everything stayed on board – but where is the crew?

But why this hasty escape – and did the crew perhaps want to return to the “Mary Celeste” later? In any case, the provisions stayed on board – food for six months. And the cargo also appears to be intact, around 1,700 barrels of ethanol are still stored on board.

Nobody knows when the crew left the “Mary Celeste” and why – even a judicial investigation will not be able to clarify this a little later.

At times the “Dei Gratia” team is even suspected of a crime. Did you kill the people on the “Mary Celeste” and now you also want to collect the mountain wages? The suspicions prove to be unfounded, the men of the “Dei Gratia” are acquitted after a trial, and a mountain wage is also paid.

There was a lot of speculation in the press at the time about what the ghost ship might be all about. Was it pirates or sea monsters?

Historians have since found an answer that sounds plausible. Because it was found out at the time, among other things, that nine of the ethanol barrels were empty. According to modern theory, it may be that the ship got caught in a storm and some barrels with the highly concentrated alcohol leaked. An explosive gas mixture could have developed in the hold – the result could have been an alcohol explosion. This would also explain the mess on board.

Modern theory on the ghost ship from 1872

The crew may have been frightened. Maybe the whole ship would explode? They took refuge on the lifeboat – but later the people did not manage to reach the “Mary Celeste” in the strong current and died miserably on the small boat with which they actually wanted to get to safety.

However, it is completely unclear whether this theory is correct. And so the “Mary Celeste” remains the most famous ghost ship in the world to this day.

Sources: Radio Bavaria 2, “History.de“

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