13 Days of Halloween: The Ship That Sailed Itself
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources
(Click to enlarge image) The fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste remains a mystery.
The tale of the Mary Celeste could be an article in itself, as it is one of the most famous, intriguing, and still unsolved mysteries of the sea.
(From About.com) — On December 3, 1872, the crew of the Dei Gratia, sailing from New York to Gibraltar, found the Mary Celeste floating unmanned about 600 miles west of Portugal. The ship was in perfect condition.
The sails were set, its cargo of 1,700 barrels of commercial alcohol were untouched (except for one barrel, which had been opened), a breakfast meal looked as though it been abandoned in the middle of being eaten, and all of the crew’s belongings remained onboard. Yet its captain, Benjamin S. Briggs, his wife, his daughter, and the ship’s crew of seven were gone.
Some versions of the story say that the ship’s lifeboat was missing, while others say it was still in place on deck. All that seemed to be missing was the ship’s chronometer, the sextant, and the cargo documents. There was no sign of a struggle, violence, storm, or any other kind of disturbance.
The last entry in the ship’s log was made on November 24, and made no indication of any trouble. If this ship had been abandoned soon after this entry, the Mary Celeste would have been adrift for a week and a half. But this was impossible, according to the crew of the Dei Gratia, considering the ship’s position and the way its sails had been set. Someone – or something – must have worked the ship for at least several days after the final log entry.
The fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste remains a mystery.
The Cursed Ship
Some ships just seem cursed with bad luck.
The Amazon was christened in 1861 at Spencer Island, Nova Scotia, and just 48 hours after taking command of the ship, its captain suddenly died. On its maiden voyage, the Amazon struck a fishing weir (a fence), leaving a gash in its hull. While being repaired, the ship suffered a fire which broke out on board. Not long after, during its third Atlantic crossing, the Amazon collided with another ship. Finally, in 1867, the ill-fated ship was wrecked off the coast of Newfoundland and abandoned for salvagers. But the ship had one last date with destiny. It was raised and restored by an American company who sailed it south for sale. It was purchased in 1872 by Captain Benjamin S. Briggs who raised its sails and headed out to sea toward the Mediterranean with his family… only now the ship was renamed the Mary Celeste!
