Mary Celeste, Abandoned Ship's Mystery Solved?

It’s Possible that Modern Science Found an Answer to this Enigma

Jun 6, 2009

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote fiction about her, causing much speculation about her fate. The official version as to what really happened was wrong.

The Mary Celeste was a 100 foot brigantine of 282 tons registered in New York. Her Captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs, was known firm abstainer and devoted bible reader. At the inquiry the ship’s main owner, James Henry Winchester, averred Briggs was a courageous officer who wouldn’t desert his ship unless it was to save his life.

The ship was built in Nova Scotia and christened the Amazon. From the start, she was ill-fortuned, having many accidents. She was in need of repair when she was sold at a salvage auction to Winchester, Briggs and Silvester Godwin. They repaired her and registered her in New York as the Mary Celeste.

On November 7, 1872, Briggs, wife Sarah, daughter Matilda and a crew of seven left New York for Genoa, Italy. The cargo was comprised of 1700 barrels of alcohol.

On December 4, the Dei Grata was 400 miles east of the Azores when her crew saw a ship sailing chaotically. Captain David Reed Morehouse, who knew Briggs, looked at the ship through his spy glass and realized she was the Mary Celeste. There was no sign of life and no response to signals, so Morehouse sent a boarding party.

Chief Mate Oliver Deveau was in charge of the boarding party. The ship was seaworthy with enough food and water. There was much water over the decks; one of the pumps was broken. The galley stove had been moved. The ship’s compass and clock were broken. Waterproof boots and men’s pipes were left behind, but the sextant, chronometer and lifeboats were gone. The last log entry was dated November 24th when the ship passed the Azores, which meant she sailed by herself for over four-hundred miles on a perfect course for the Mediterranean.

British and American authorities ruled that the crew mutinied, then abandoned the ship. But many believe this scenario was unlikely because there were no signs of a struggle and Briggs was a respected and good captain.

The writer was trying to establish himself as an author before creating Sherlock Holmes. His story was fiction. People speculated with further mysteries, including sea monsters, alien abductions, pirates, submarines, and time travel. Doyle’s story about the Marie Celeste, changing the first name, turned a puzzle into one of the most famous sea legends.

It seemed possible that leaking alcohol caught fire, sending Captain Briggs and the others aboard into a panic and they abandoned ship. This was a plausible explanation but had been dismissed because there was no sign of fire or explosion.

Chemist Dr. Andrea Sella built a replica of the Mary Celeste’s hold He used paper cubes and simulated an explosion with butane gas. The paper cubes neither burned nor blackened. The replica of the hold wasn’t damaged. The fire was a pressure-wave explosive. There was an astonishing burst of flame. Cool air was behind it, but there was no burning, soot or scorching. The explosion could have blown open the hatches. Such a massive flare-up could have been triggered by a spark caused when two loose barrels rubbed together or when a crewman, smoking a pipe, opened a hatch to ventilate the hold. According to records, 300 gallons of alcohol leaked – more than enough to create an explosion.

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