Episode 19. The Mary Celeste.
An 1861 painting of Mary Celeste (named Amazon at the time), by an unknown artist.
Ghost ships, or phantom ships, are vessels that are devoid of crew and life, often found in the ocean. They may have been deserted for any number of reasons, though these reasons are not always clear and the crew cannot always be found. This is the case of the Mary Celeste and the MV Joyita.
The Mary Celeste was an American merchant brigantine, that is, put very simply, a two-masted ship. Mary Celeste was built in Nova Scotia and launched as Amazon in 1861 before being transferred to American ownership in 1868 and was given her new name.
As an aside, if, like me, you’re wondering why ships and often also cars or other modes of transport are referred to as she or her, I have a little fun fact for you. Romance languages, stemming originally from Vulgar Latin (meaning common Latin), such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian and Catalan, often refer to ships or “the ship” as a female noun. That tradition since carried over into English, resulting in people referring to ships as she or her.
The Mary Celeste sailed without fault until her 1872 voyage from New York to Genoa. She was discovered at sea by the Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia, dishevelled but in fine condition, under partial sail (meaning with all sails not in full use) and with her lifeboat missing. The crew was nowhere to be found. The cargo had been left intact, as had the captain and crew’s personal items. None of the crew members would ever be seen or heard from again.
There were many theories at the hearing following her discovery, including mutiny, piracy, or fraud, though there was no evidence to support any of these as being the cause of the Mary Celeste crew’s demise. As happens with unsolved mysteries, further and possibly less likely theories arose, such as paranormal intervention, attack by giant squid, sea quakes or alcohol fumes from the ships cargo afflicting the crew.
The Mary Celeste’s life at sea did not end here. She was handed over to new owners and was in service until 1885 when her captain deliberately wrecked her on the coast of Haiti in order to claim insurance.
Given that the Mary Celeste was a well stocked ship, in great shape, it is hard to imagine why the ship would be abandoned by the entire crew.
It was theorised at one point that the ship may have been abandoned in order to claim insurance, however at the Gibraltar hearing; there was no evidence to suggest this other than the ship having been over insured. The insurance companies never opened an inquiry into the case.
During this voyage, there were Riffian pirates active in the area and naturally it was suggested that the ship may have been attacked, however this theory was ruled out on account of the ships cargo and the crew’s personal possessions being left untouched. Pirates would have pilfered the ship and taken anything valuable. The undisturbed items also lends to the idea that whatever caused the crew to flee, it wasn’t necessarily violent.
This leaves either something natural or entirely unnatural.
Aboard the ship was a sounding rod, used to alert the crew that the ship was taking on water. It was suggested that this rod may have been triggered by some kind of malfunction, causing the captain and crew to believe that the ship was rapidly taking on water and would have to be abandoned. There was a fair amount of water on the ship when it was found, which could have been the cause of a waterspout, also known as a non-super cell tornado over water. It is said that this would account for the slightly disheveled state that the ship was found in. It’s not hard to believe that in the wide expanse of the ocean, that a crew who had abandoned ship, could be lost to a watery grave, never to be found.
As is common in Good Nightmare stories, the facts of the case eventually became intertwined with myth and legend. In 1883, the Los Angeles Times retold the story of the Mary Celeste with some embellishments:
“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 [was] written up to the hour of her discovery.”
Other reports claimed that the ship was found 2,600km south of its actual location and that there were live chickens on board upon its discovery.
It was in 1884 that the most memorable retelling was printed by a very familiar name, Arthur Conan Doyle, master of mysteries, himself.
Doyle renamed the ship Marie Celeste as it is still commonly mistakenly called to this day. He wrote that the voyage took place in 1873 as the ship sailed from Boston to Libson, carrying passengers as well as the crew. He created a character named Septimus Goring who hated the white race and gathered members of the crew to murder their captain, J W Tibbs and steal the ship away to West Africa. Only one other passenger survived the murders, a man known as Jephson, who was only spared because he was in possession of a magical charm. Although this story is clearly fictitious and was never meant to be taken as face, the US Consul in Gibraltar was so intrigued that he inquired into whether any elements of the story may be true.
A more serious, though equally ludicrous, theory was presented in The Strand Magazine in 1913, where it was told that all people on board were drowned or eaten by sharks after a platform created for a swimming competition collapsed into the sea.
And most fantastically, in true sea horror story style, it was also suggested that the entire crew was picked off the ship one by one by a giant squid or octopus. Giant squid have been recorded to have reached 15 metres, or 49 feet, in length and have been known to attack ships. Though it’s hard to believe that if this was the way the crew were taken down, that the ship would have been left only slightly disheveled and not one single survivor would be left on board.
Of course, while there are no solid answers, all theories are equally likely. Kind of like the Schrodinger’s cat of ships. Leaving it just as likely that there may have even been some kind of paranormal intervention, in the style of the Bermuda triangle disappearances or alien abduction. Personally, I’m not sure what to believe or rather, what I would like to believe.
I do have a movie recommendation for you. Triangle is the 2009 film that follows a group of friends involved in a yachting accident who find refuge on their very own ghost ship. The story has elements of the legend of Sisyphus as well as plenty of thrills. I watched this movie three times and picked up on something new each time.
Good Nightmare 