The Mary Celeste

The 282 gross ton brigantine Mary Celeste was a merchant ship that was built in the village of Spencer’s Island, Nova Scotia. She was the first of many large ships built by Joshua Dewis. When she was launched in 1861 as the Amazon she was owned by a group of eight investors from Cumberland and Kings Counties. The Amazon was registered in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.

The Amazon had a hard start; she had a total of at least three Captains die while in command of her. The first Captain of the Amazon was a son of one of the investors, Robert McLellan. Only nine days after taking command of the brigantine he contracted pneumonia and died at the very beginning of her maiden voyage.

After this Capt. John Nutting Parker took over command. However after setting sail he ran into a fishing boat and had to steer the wounded ship back to the shipyard for major repairs.

While at the shipyard a fire broke out somewhere close to the middle of the Amazon. The fire did not destroy her and she was eventually repaired and again set sail.

However her first voyage across the Atlantic was also disastrous for the next Captain. She again collided with another vessel. This time she was in the English Channel close to Dover. This collision resulted in the dismissal of this Captain.

After this the Amazon seemed to leave her bad luck behind and she had several profitable years for her Nova Scotia owners. She travelled to places like the West Indies, Central America and South America with a wide range of different cargos.

But her good streak did not last for in 1867 she ran aground during a storm off Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. She was salvaged and sold to Richard Haines of New York for $1,750. It cost Mr. Haines $8,825.03 to have the ship repaired. In 1968 he transferred registry to the United States and renamed her to the Mary Celeste. She was now owned by four partners and her Captain was Capt. Benjamin Briggs.

An Old Postcard of Steamers at Bear River, Nova Scotia

The Dei Gratia was a Canadian brigantine built in Bear River in 1871. Her name Dei Gratia was named for the Latin phase for “By the Grace of God”.

She was 111 feet long, 28 feet wide and took a depth of 13 feet. Her gross ton was 295 and she had a net tonnage of 237.

She was owned by George F. Miller of Bear River, Nova Scotia and the port of registry was Digby, Nova Scotia. Her Captain was Capt. David Reed Morehouse who sailed her trans-Atlantic with various cargos.

The Dei Gratia was a profitable ship; she did not have anything out of the ordinary happen to her in her first year of sail. But on her second year she became famous as the ship that found the mystery ship Mary Celeste sailing unmanned near the Azores.

There did not seem to be anything strange about the voyages of November 1872. There had been some stormy weather in October that year, but November was reported as a fairly calm month out on the open seas.

On November 5, the Mary Celeste was docked in New York cities East River waiting for a cargo of 1,701 barrels of commercial alcohol worth about $35,000. The alcohol was to be taken to Genoa, Italy where it was intended for fortifying the Italian wines on behalf of Missner Ackerman & Company. The ship and cargo was insured for $46,000 when she headed out.

Capt. Benjamin Briggs was calm and optimistic when he wrote to his mother just before the journey. His mother was caring for his seven year old son, Arthur, while his wife and two year old daughter Sophia was sailing with him. This was not unusual as several captains brought their families along on voyages with them.

The Dei Gratia was also in New York waiting for a cargo of 1,935 barrels of petroleum.

Her captain, Capt. David Reed Morehouse and Capt. Benjamin Briggs were old friends, both from Nova Scotia and having served together as sailors when younger. When they found out both were in town they decided to get together on November 4th for supper and an evening of catching up with each other. During their evening they discovered they were both heading on similar courses across the Atlantic, through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean. The Dei Gratia was leaving about 8 – 10 days later than the Mary Celeste.

On November 5th the Mary Celeste set sail from Stanton Island for Genoa, Italy with a crew of seven plus the Captain, his wife and daughter. The crew were all well respected and able seamen. The Captain had been in charge of at least five ships over his career and owned several more. The crew included a Dane and four Germans who all spoke fluent English. The first mate and cook were both Americans. All had exemplary records and were considered experienced and very trustworthy.

On December 4, 1872, almost a month after both ships had left New York, the helmsman of the Dei Gratia, John Johnson sighted a ship about five miles off their port. They were approximately 600 miles west of Portugal. Looking through his spyglass he could tell something was wrong with this ship. It was yawning slightly, and although it had its sails up they were torn and did not look right.

He reported this to the second officer, John Wright who after looking agreed with him and they went to inform the Captain. The Captain gave the order to switch course and head towards this vessel. As they got closer he seen it was the Mary Celeste. They approached to about 400 yards and watched for about two hours.

During this time the Mary Celeste was under sail and heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar but she was sailing very erratically on a starboard track. There was no distress signal, however during the time they watched her they never seen anyone at the helm or onboard anywhere. They finally decided the vessel was drifting so pulled up beside her.

The Chief Mate, Oliver Deveau boarded the Mary Celeste to take a look around. What he found really puzzled him. There was no one on board anywhere, but their personal belongings were all still in place, even their valuables. The only lifeboat onboard was missing, so he surmised the crew had abandoned her in a hurry as they did not take anything with them.

The whole vessel was a wet mess with water between decks, and 3 ½ feet of water in the hold. There was only one operational pump, the other two had been disassembled. But even with the water on board the vessel was still very seaworthy and showed no signs of sinking. The fore hatch and lazarette were both open but the main hatch was still closed and sealed.

All of the ships papers were missing except for the Captain’s log book. Six months of food and water was still on board uncontaminated. There was no sign of a struggle or any type of violence; it looked like the crew just left!

The ship clock was not working and the compass was destroyed, the sextant and the marine chronometer were missing. The peak halyard that is used to hoist up the main sail was gone. There was a rope found tied to the ship but frayed and just dragging behind which could have been the peak halyard. The cargo was all still there and looked untouched, but when it was later unloaded there were nine empty barrels.

The first mate from the Dei Gratia sailed the Mary Celeste following the Dei Gratia into Gibraltar. After they arrived a full investigation was held in the Vice Admiralty Court. This lasted for three months attracting worldwide attention. There was another investigation preformed by the Consul of the United States in Gibraltar as there were Americans on board.

About the only other thing found on the ship was a gash on its railing. This was not enough to prove violence or a struggle on board. The results of the commission of inquiry did prompt the authorities in Washington, D.C. to alert all ports to keep watch for anyone fitting the descriptions of the Captain or crew of the Mary Celeste. If anyone bearing a resemblance or if anyone with any of the missing articles from the ship showed up they were to report it at once. Nothing ever showed up anywhere.

At first the crew of the Dei Gratia was suspected of wrong doing or of participating in an insurance fraud by the Attorney General of Gibraltar. However this was soon dropped and the crew of the Dei Gratia was awarded the salvage by the Vice Admiralty Court, who also commended them for their resourcefulness and courage. The salvage did not bring much. They made $8,300 but ended up spending most of this on the huge court cost in the long inquiry. They ended up selling the Dei Gratia to Irish owners in 1881.

The disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste and what happened on that voyage has been cited as being the greatest Maritime mystery of all time. There came to be many speculations of what happened: piracy, insurance fraud, a storm, a seaquake, tsunami, waterspout, explosion, munity, drunkenness of the crew, or premature abandonment. However most of these were proven not to be the case. There was no report of bad weather, quakes or tsunamis at this time.

The suggestion of an explosion or threat of one has been the most accepted. It was found that the nine empty barrels of alcohol were all made of red oak where the rest were all of white oak. Red oak is more porous and it is possible the alcohol could have seeped out; or at least the vapours. This could have caused a built up of fumes in the hold.

The barrels rocking together with the swell could have rubbed together and caused a spark. An explosion from this could have blown off the hatches and one could have hit the rail causing the gouge in it. This could have been a flash fire which definitely would have been enough to scare the crew into the life boat, but not necessarily hot enough to leave burn marks.

It is also believed that the Captain may have opened the hatch resulting in a violent rush of fumes and steam. This could have scared him enough, especially as he was not accustomed to carrying this type of cargo, to abandon the ship. In their haste they probably did not tie the lifeboat secure enough to the ship. The Mary Celeste was still under full sail and if a wind came up it probably would be too much for the tow rope to hold. The rope frayed and let go leaving the crew drifting hopelessly on the sea. They most likely capsized or drowned as no wreckage was ever reported to be found.

The main flaws with this scenario were that the main hatch was still closed and there was no evidence of fumes left at all in the hold. There also was no sign the alcohol had seeped out of the barrels.

The Mary Celeste was brought back to the United States but as they got close to Boston an accident claimed the life of James Winchesters father on board so he decided to sell her. He suffered a huge loss on the vessel.

Over the next thirteen years the ship changed hands seventeen times. She was getting in poor condition by the time G.C. Parker bought her. He never made any money with her so he came up with a plan to claim insurance on her. He over-insured a cargo of scrap including boots and cat food and then deliberately wrecked her in the Caribbean Sea on January 3, 1885. Unfortunately for him this plan failed as the Mary Celeste did not sink.

He then tried to burn her and set a fire aboard her but even after the fire was extinguished the vessel was still intact. Unfortunately the ships log was lost in the fire which included Benjamin Briggs prior entries.

Parker then tried to claim an exorbitant insurance claim for a cargo that never existed which lead to his arrest. But he never did go to trail as he died of unknown circumstances beforehand.

The partially burned Mary Celeste was then just left on the shoal until she finally gave up and slipped down under the surface.

An expedition headed by the author Clive Cussler who represented the National Underwater & Marine agency and CNB film producer John Davis set out to find the Mary Celeste in 2001. On board were several divers from the Nova Scotia company EcoNova. On August 9th they announced they had found the remains of the brigantine right where Parker had wrecked her.

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