The Mary Celeste carried 1,701 barrels of denatured (industrial) alcohol, a highly flammable and poisonous substance, from New York to Genoa, Italy, when it was found abandoned in 1872. While the vast majority of the cargo was intact, nine barrels were empty, leading to theories that a vapor leak might have caused the crew to evacuate in fear of explosion, though the actual fate of the 10 people aboard remains a famous maritime mystery.
On November 7, 1872, the Mary Celeste—a two-masted brigantine ship—set sail from New York City with a cargo hold full of industrial-strength alcohol, seven crew, Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife, Sarah, and their two-year-old daughter, Sophia.
The fate of the passengers of the Mary Celeste is still a mystery. The crew most likely abandoned the Mary Celeste right after Captain Briggs made his last entry in the logbook on November 25.
She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and was still amply provisioned when found. Her cargo of alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.
The most accepted explanation for her being abandoned is that the crew discovered a leaking cask and took to the ship's boat intending to return after the fumes were ventilated. Evidence indicated they intended to return as they apparently did not take supplies essential for a prolonged voyage aboard the small boat.
Briggs, his wife, his daughter and the crew of the Mary Celeste were never found and their fate remains a mystery.
A similar theory holds that faulty navigation equipment and a coal dust–clogged water pump may have led Briggs to believe the ship was sinking, prompting him to abandon it. The mystery of the Mary Celeste is likely never to be solved. None of the ten people aboard was ever seen again.
The Mary Celeste was eventually wrecked off the coast of Haiti in 1885, but her legacy as a ghost ship lives on. Theories continue to emerge, with some suggesting that freak weather conditions or rogue waves could have caused the crew to abandon ship.
The captains' curse.
The Mary Celeste actually lost three captains to premature death: the other two fell ill while on board. There's also a theory that Captain Briggs might actually have died before the ship was abandoned, and without his good counsel, the crew were more likely to leave a sea-worthy ship.
The most famous ghost ship of them all has to be the Mary Celeste. Having left New York in early November 1872, bound for Italy, the merchant brigantine was spotted drifting alone in the Atlantic Ocean on 5 December.
A crew made up of men from the Dei Gratia took the Mary Celeste to Gibraltar and there lodged a claim for salvaging her. Their theory was that the original crew had miscalculated the amount of water in the hold and panicked.
Typically, derelict ghost ships did not remain adrift for very long, though there have been ghost ships that have been reported to remain adrift for many years, and their fates have remained unknown, such as SS Baychimo and Governor Parr.
The Bermuda Triangle is a section of the North Atlantic Ocean where ships and planes have vanished without a trace, some claim under mysterious circumstances. The three points of the Triangle are Bermuda (the northernmost point), followed by Puerto Rico and the Florida coast near Miami.
Boat operators who have a blood alcohol concentration level (BAC) in excess of 0.08, or 0.10 in some states, are subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000 and a criminal penalty of up to $5,000. Remember, this fine is applicable to all boat operators—from the single fisherman to the captain of a ship.
His actions saved untold numbers of lives. His stash of alcohol probably saved his own. And he might very well have been the last person to ever step foot on the vessel as it sank. This is the strange-but-true story of Charles John Joughin, Chief Baker on the Titanic.
Cargo manifests from the Titanic chronicle a grand selection of spirits available aboard the ship — wine, vermouth, Champagne, Cognac, brandy, and whiskey were all on offer.
Haunting of the Mary Celeste is a 2020 American horror thriller film directed by Shana Betz with a script from David Ross and Jerome Oliver.
The ship's only lifeboat was missing, and one of its two pumps had been disassembled. Three and a half feet of water was sloshing in the ship's bottom, though the cargo of 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol was largely intact.
The cargo was intact and there was plenty of food in the hold but the lifeboat was missing. The image of the ghost ship caught the imagination, and the term mary celeste or marie celeste came to mean 'an unsolvable mystery'.
The Octavius was a legendary 18th century ghost ship. According to the story, the three-masted schooner was found west of Greenland by the whaler Herald on 11 October 1775. Boarded as a derelict, the five-man boarding party found the entire crew of 28 below deck: dead, frozen, and almost perfectly preserved.
The Mary Celeste Mystery: In 1872, the Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean with its crew and passengers mysteriously absent. Despite numerous investigations, the cause of their disappearance remains a mystery.
MARY CELESTE was built at Spencer's island, Nova Scotia. “We can safely say the final resting place of the infamous MARY CELESTE has been found,” concluded Delgado.
According to the last log entry—dated November 25—the Mary Celeste was some 6 nautical miles (11 km) from the Azores. Ten days later the vessel was spotted by the British brig Dei Gratia. Crew from that ship boarded the Mary Celeste and discovered it deserted.
On October 20th 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50, which is located on the East River in New York City. Briggs was to supervise the loading of Mary Celeste's cargo, which was over 1,700 barrels of denatured alcohol.
The Mary Celeste was a 282-ton American brigantine that had left New York on November 7 with a cargo of 1,701 barrels of denatured alcohol bound for the Italian city of Genova. It was commanded by Captain Benjamin Briggs, an experienced man well known in the trade.