The Mary Celeste, which was originally called the Amazon, is one of the most famous ships in the history of the sea. Its mysterious abandonment in 1872, coupled with the turbulent events throughout its lifespan, has intrigued historians, writers, and conspiracy theorists for over 150 years. The ship, built in Canada and registered in the United States, became a symbol of bad luck and mystery, remembered in maritime history.
The Birth of the Amazon
The Mary Celeste started as the Amazon, a brigantine-rigged ship built in 1861 on Spencer’s Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. Joshua Davis and Jacob Spencer were the masterminds behind her construction, using timber wood from Spencer’s Island. With a length of 99 feet, a breadth of 25.5 feet, and a gross tonnage of 198.5 tons, she was one of the largest ships in the Fundy area. The ship was registered in the port of Nova Scotia, with Robert McLellan serving as its first captain.
Right from the start, it seemed the ship was meant to face problems. Right before her first voyage, Captain McLellan fell seriously ill. Despite his illness, he chose to continue with the voyage, hoping to recover in the sea’s fresh air. However, just as the cargo was being loaded for transport to London via the River Thames, McLellan succumbed to pneumonia. He died in the house of Jacob Spencer, marking an ill-fated start for the Amazon, as she had delivered only the dead body of her captain on her first voyage despite the cargo.
Early Misfortunes
Following McLellan’s death, the ship was taken over by Captain Jack Parker, who completed the initial voyage to London. However, this journey was full of mishaps. While sailing in the Bay of Fundy, the Amazon got tangled in a fishing line, which required some repairs. Later, while traveling down the Thames River, she collided with a British brig, sustaining damage that required further repairs. These accidents were only the beginning of bad luck that would follow the ship for years.
After returning to Nova Scotia, the Amazon was placed under the command of Captain William Thompson. Over the next few years, the ship became involved in various commercial ventures, including a cargo shipment of corn in 1867. However, her owners were dissatisfied with Thompson’s performance. After repeated issues, including a dangerous storm, the storm was so scary that even the insurance company’s policy had mentioned not giving a claim of damage to Mary Celeste but the captain still took the ship in such a storm that severely damaged the ship near Cape Breton, due to this Thompson was removed from his position. He reported to the ship’s owners that the vessel was in such poor condition that repairs would be prohibitively expensive, prompting the owners to abandon the ship.
But Amazon’s story did not end there. A man named Alexander Mc Bean took ownership of the ship and registered it in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This act raised suspicions, as local laws prohibited the registration of wrecked ships, but Mc Bean was somehow able to bypass this restriction. Shortly afterward, the ship was sold again, this time to John Beatty. Beatty’s ownership was short-lived, as the ship was damaged again in Maine and abandoned once more.
The Birth of the Mary Celeste
In 1869, the Amazon was brought to New York, where it was sold at public auction for $1,750 to Richard W. Haynes. Haynes was the one who gave the ship its well-known name, Mary Celeste. Haynes claimed that he had made significant repairs to the ship, even replacing more than half of her parts, but this claim went unverified. By renaming the vessel, Haynes also avoided paying certain registration fees, but his tenure with the ship was plagued by financial difficulties, leading him into increasing debt.
In 1872, James H. Winchester, an ex-sea captain, purchased the Mary Celeste. However, Winchester soon discovered that the previous owner had scammed him by not paying the necessary import fees. This caused a series of legal fights over its ownership. Moreover, Winchester realized that the ship was in much worse condition than Haynes had claimed, requiring extensive repairs that cost him $11,500. These repairs increased the ship’s tonnage from 198 to 282 tons, nearly bankrupting Winchester in the process. Despite these challenges, Winchester persevered, making the necessary improvements and continuing to operate the Mary Celeste.
Captain Benjamin Briggs Takes Command
In late 1872, Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs took command of the Mary Celeste as part owner. Briggs, a seasoned and respected sea captain, was also a family man. He decided to take his wife, Sarah, and their young daughter, Sophie, on the ship’s first voyage under his command. Briggs left their 8-year-old son at home for schooling. The Mary Celeste was set to transport 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol from New York to Genoa, Italy. This was a common cargo at the time but risky because of its flammable nature.
On November 7, 1872, the Mary Celeste left Pier 50 in New York, beginning what would become its most notorious journey. The ship’s cargo was securely stowed, and Briggs, along with his crew of seven men, seemed prepared for a routine journey across the Atlantic. Little did they know that the ship’s next encounter would cement her place in maritime history.
At the same time, another vessel called the Dei Gratia was getting ready for a similar journey. The Dei Gratia was a brigantine under the command of Captain David Reed Morehouse. Interestingly, rumors have persisted that Morehouse and Briggs were close friends, though this has never been definitively proven. The Dei Gratia was also bound for Europe, albeit on a slightly different course, departing eight days after the Mary Celeste. The ships would eventually cross paths most unusually.
The Abandonment and Discovery
On December 5, 1872, the Dei Gratia crew spotted a ship drifting erratically about 400 miles east of the Azores, off the coast of Portugal. As they approached, it became clear that something was wrong. The ship was identified as the Mary Celeste, but there was no sign of its crew.
Captain Morehouse sent a boarding party to investigate. What they found onboard was both puzzling and chilling. The ship was completely abandoned. There were no signs of violence or foul play, but the ship’s sails were in poor condition, and a portion of the portside railing was missing. The cabin interiors were soaked, likely from water that had entered through an open skylight. The crew’s personal belongings were still in place, as were the ship’s navigational tools and ample provisions for the journey.
The logbook was intact, with the final entry dated November 25, 1872, which placed the ship near Santa Maria Island in the Azores. There was no indication of why the crew had abandoned the ship, nor any explanation for their sudden disappearance.
One popular theory suggests that fumes from the alcohol cargo may have leaked due to small cracks in the barrels. The buildup of fumes, combined with the ship’s proximity to land, may have convinced Captain Briggs that an explosion was imminent. Faced with two dire choices—remain on the potentially explosive ship or abandon it in the small lifeboat—Briggs may have chosen the latter. Tragically, it is possible that the crew was lost at sea, unable to make it to shore.
Salvage and Speculation
After the discovery, the crew of the Dei Gratia towed the Mary Celeste to Gibraltar, where an official investigation was launched. While some initially suspected foul play on the part of the Dei Gratia crew, the fact that the Mary Celeste was found drifting with her cargo mostly intact made it unlikely that the crew of the Dei Gratia attacked and overpowered Briggs and his men. Moreover, the Dei Gratia had left New York eight days after the Mary Celeste, making it unlikely they could have caught up and staged an attack in the middle of the Atlantic.
Despite the investigation, no definitive answers were found. Theories ranged from piracy, mutiny, and insurance fraud to natural disasters like water spouts or seaquakes. Some even speculated that the crew had fallen victim to a giant sea monster or been abducted by aliens, though these ideas were dismissed as pure fantasy.
The ship was eventually returned to James Winchester, who claimed her without any suspicion of wrongdoing. He paid the Dei Gratia crew a fraction of the ship’s value as a reward for their salvage efforts. However, despite being seaworthy, the Mary Celeste remained unsellable due to her ominous reputation
The Final Years and Deliberate Wrecking
The Mary Celeste continued to sail for a few more years, though her reputation as an “unlucky” ship persisted. In 1879, she was hired to carry a load of horses along the coast of Africa. Most of the animals fell ill during the voyage, and only a few survived. To add to the ship’s growing tally of misfortunes, the captain died shortly after docking.
In 1885, Mary Celeste met her final fate. Her new owner, Wesley Gove, and Captain Gilman Parker devised a plan to deliberately wreck the ship to collect insurance money. They overloaded the ship with a worthless cargo of spoiled goods, then sailed her toward the coast of Haiti. On January 3, 1885, the Mary Celeste was run aground on a reef near Goave Island. Parker allowed the crew to loot the ship’s alcohol before the wreck, but the plan backfired when investigators discovered the fraudulent scheme.
Parker was tried and found guilty of insurance fraud, though he avoided the death penalty. Nonetheless, within six months of the incident, Parker and several other conspirators died under mysterious circumstances. The Mary Celeste herself was left to rot on the reef, her legacy forever sealed as one of the most mysterious ships in maritime history.
Conclusion
The story of Mary Celeste is one of bad luck, deception, and enduring mystery. From her ill-fated beginnings as the Amazon to her final act of deliberate wrecking, the ship’s troubled history and the unexplained disappearance of her crew have captivated imaginations for over a century. Even after many investigations and countless theories, the mystery of Mary Celeste is still unsolved, making it a haunting reminder of the dangers and mysteries of the sea.