The Mary Celeste, a brig carrying raw alcohol, was found abandoned in the Sargasso Sea in 1872. The fate of the crew, including Captain Briggs, remains a mystery. Theories include fear of an explosion or a problem with the lifeboat.
The sea hides many mysteries, perhaps none more baffling and enduring than the inexplicable disappearance of the crew of the two hundred ton brig, the Mary Celeste. The vessel was found floating in the middle of the Sargasso Sea, approximately 500 miles (805 kilometers) east of the Azores in December 1872. Many stories and theories abound regarding the fate of Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and their infant daughter.
No one will ever know what actually went on aboard the Mary Celeste, but it is known that the Mary Celeste began life as an Amazon in 1861. After a series of mishaps, she was refitted in 1869 and renamed the Mary Celeste. Three years later, in October 1872, Benjamin Briggs became the new captain of the Mary Celeste and co-owner, as was the fashion at the time.
Briggs was an accomplished sailor and a man of a seafaring family. The Mary Celeste left Pier 50 in New York Harbor on November 5, 1872, bound for Genoa with a cargo of raw alcohol. The vessel was not seen again until 5 December when Captain David Morehouse of the schooner Dei Gratia, a vessel similar to the Mary Celeste, saw her floating abandoned in mid-ocean. Ironically, Morehouse knew that Briggs and the two had even dined together on the eve of Brigg’s departure into oblivion aboard the Mary Celeste.
Everything about the abandoned vessel suggested a hasty evacuation. The chronometer and sextant were missing but a register was found with a last entry dated November 24th. The imprint of a child’s silhouette on a bed and an unfinished meal in the captain’s cabin table support the theory of a quick departure. Lifeboats hung from davits and an open bottle of cough medicine stood on a narrow shelf. A partial explanation may lie in the cargo carried by the Mary Celeste.
Raw alcohol was highly volatile and combustible. One of the bottles aboard the Mary Celeste had been opened and it is possible that Briggs abruptly abandoned ship out of fear of an explosion. The cargo may have rumbled, which is a noise commonly associated with raw alcohol. If yes, was the problem with the rope connecting the evacuees to the Mary Celeste? Did he somehow get lost and Briggs chased after him, hoping to reach the unmanned vessel? Or did a giant tidal wave engulf the tiny lifeboat and all of its occupants?
The story of the Mary Celeste and her ill-fated crew remains a mystery as deep and impenetrable as the sea itself.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
