The Ghost Ship called 'Mary Celeste'

Introduction - 

'Ghost ship', this term is given to those ships who aimlessly float in the sea or ocean and on it neither there is a captain nor crewmembers, not even passengers. In history, we have seen many ghost ships but out of every one of them, the story of "Mary Celeste" is the most interesting one. "Mary Celeste", was a wooden ship that was found on 4th December 1872 at the port of Azores and no one was on the ship. What's more shocking is that when this ship on 7th November left the harbor of New York, there were 10 people on the ship.

What happened on the ship? Were those 10 people killed?

History -

During the 1861s, this ship was made in Nova Scotia, Canada, and at that time, the ship was known by the name, 'The Amazon'. What's the peculiar thing is that from the start the ship was considered cursed. The reason behind it was that during its first voyage, the captain of the ship was killed. The captain had a severe cough and cold, and soon he had difficulties in breathing. Whenever the captain coughed or commanded, blood would spurt out from his mouth. After some time, the crew came to know that the captain was diagnosed with pneumonia but it was too late. 

After this incident, 'The Amazon' was considered cursed and some weird things always happened on the ship. Most of the time, the ship was always caught in some accident. The owner got frustrated with it and sold it to Richard W. Haines. Richard was an American, he spent some money on the ship to renovate it but among the people, rumors of 'The Amazon' being cursed were already widespread. Due to these stories, the business of 'The Amazon' was getting affected and Richard changed the name of the ship to, 'Mary Celeste'. This helped in the business a little but was not enough.

Richard too got frustrated and sold the ship to captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs. Captain Briggs had his own crew and family and using their help, he worked on the ship.  

Finding the abandoned ship and Investigation -

Now, fast forward to 1872, when 'Mary Celeste' left New York harbor for Genoa, Italy with the captain, his wife, his two-year-old daughter Sofia and 7 crew members. On the ship, there were 1,700 barrels of crude alcohol and they were sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. For around 20 days, there was no sign of the ship until 4th December, when it was found aimlessly sailing between the Azores and the coast of Portugal by the brigantine "Dei Gratia". Dei Gratia's captain David Morehouse sent two of his crew members to check 'Mary Celeste' but it was deserted. Upon doing some searching, Morehouse found the logbook of the ship whose last entry was on 25th November, meaning the ship was sailing aimlessly for 9 days. 

Mary Celeste's lifeboat was missing, its compass was misaligned, there were about 3.5 feet (1.1 m) of water in the ship's hold and some alcohol barrels were broken. Morehouse immediately takes control of 'Mary Celeste' and decides to take it to Gibraltar which was 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) away. During those times, there was a maritime law according to which if a salvor rescues a ship then that person will get payment for the rescued ship. There was even an investigation committee to check if there was any foul play. 

Well, something similar happened here, where this investigation went 3 months, and finally, Dei Gratia's crew got their payment, although, their payment was not full rather it was only 1/5th cost of the ship. This incident during those days got famous and many theories were made regarding the disappearance of Mary Celeste's crew members.

Theories -

Impossible theories were saying that Mary Celeste's crew members were eaten by sea monsters or were abducted by aliens or on the ship, the first captain's ghost didn't want anybody on the ship. I know these theories are absurd and that's why they are impossible theories.

Pirate attack-yes, many people believed that pirates might have launched an attack on the ship and murdered all the crew members. This theory is hard to believe because if pirates even did attack then they wouldn't leave the alcohol barrels and there would have been scratch marks on the ship due to fighting but nothing similar was found on 'Mary Celeste'. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle even published a story on this matter, at the age of 25. However, Conan Doyle's story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" did not adhere to facts. According to the story, a crew member took an ax and murdered everyone, so the story was just dismissed as a fictional story that had no relation to reality. 

Alcohol leakage-yes, many people also believed that there was an alcohol leakage on the ship due to which poisonous fumes may have formed. To save themselves, the crew went to the lifeboat which they had tied to the ship with a rope. Once the poisonous fumes have evaporated, the crew would have returned to the ship but due to bad weather conditions the lifeboat got detached from the ship and the crew disappeared into the sea. People believe this theory because the lifeboat was missing and there was a partially broken rope. But the investigators said otherwise, as they did not report smelling any fumes.

Many believe that whatever happened on 'Mary Celeste' was because of a series of problems. First, the ship's water pump might have malfunctioned due to which water got inside the ship's hold. After that, due to the failed compass, the ship sailed aimlessly, and then bad weather conditions made the situation bad to worse. Seeing this, Captain Briggs ordered his crew to leave the ship and get on the lifeboat but the opposite happened and they got lost in the sea. 

Some people even say that in adverse conditions, the crew members may have fought among themselves and this may have resulted in the death of the captain and his family. 

Now, we all know that whenever this type of incident happens which is mysterious then we always hear about insurance fraud. Let me tell you about the theory of insurance fraud related to 'Mary Celeste'. I had told you guys that 'Mary Celeste' was bought by Benjamin Spooner Briggs but when we go into the transaction details then we get to know that the ship had 12 shares out of which Captain Briggs had only 4 shares. Out of the remaining 8 shares, James H. Winchester had 6 shares who had invested a lot in the renovation of the ship. Winchester had 'Mary Celeste' heavily insured and from here, the insurance fraud theory comes.

People believe that Winchester had hired Dei Gratia's crew so that they can not only take the salvor money but also insurance money. Some people also believe that Captain Briggs and his family were also involved in this fraud. Regarding this theory, many hearings were made and some controversies also happened. But many people believe this theory although this theory can't be proved. 

But why do people believe this theory when it also can't be proved?

Well, this is because what happened after this incident is very interesting. So far, you all know that the crew members of this ship disappeared in 1872 but that doesn't mean that the ship wasn't used after this. Absolutely not, the ship was used many times and whenever this ship went to a new owner, they always suffered from misfortune. In 1885, this ship ran onto a reef and the owner's name was Gilman C. Parker, and deliberately sank the ship so that he can claim the insurance money. As I said before, this ship was heavily insured. The insurance money was double the value of the ship. But when the insurance company made a complaint, and upon investigation, they found out about the fraud, and Parker didn't get the money. Parker's reputation got destroyed, he had to return all the money and after three months of poverty, he died. 

Due to this proven insurance fraud, people believed that something similar may have happened in 1872.

Conclusion -

Now, I have told you guys every plausible theory related to the disappearance of Mary Celeste's crew members in 1872 but no one knows the exact reason behind the disappearance. Yes, but one thing is clear that whoever got the ship always suffered from misfortune or ended up destroying their life due to which the ship is also considered 'cursed'. 

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This is it, guys. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please tell me if I was wrong somewhere in the comment section. Also a question for you guys: What are your thoughts on this topic? Tell me in the comment section.

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Peace out ✌️.