The Mary Celeste

by Stan Mason

  Captain Morehouse called the First Mate, Oliver Deveau, who was below at the time, to point out the derelict to him and he alerted the Second Mate likewise. As they approached the vessel, they could hear the creaking of the rigging, and the flap of loose sail, while the wheel spun on its own, unlashed and unmanned, as the sea moved the rudder. Some of the rigging was missing and the sails furled with the main staysail laying loose on the forward-house. The foresail and the upper foretopsail had been blown away, and the lower foretopsail hung by its four corners. By this time, the whole of the crew of the Dei Gratia had come forward to the rail to witness the vessel yawing in the firm breeze and choppy sea. As the ship fell off in the wind, the stern came into view showing her name clearly....Mary Celeste New York’. In view of the comradeship which existed between the Captains of both vessels, one can envisaged the thoughts which raced through Captain Morehouse’s mind at that moment. He hailed her twice but there was no response.

  It was only twenty-nine days earlier that the two Captains had dined in New York and now, as the two ships crossed Latitude 38.20N and Longitude 17.15W, due east of the Azores, some six hundred miles from Gibraltar, clearly disaster had struck. Speculation broke out among the crew as to whether yellow fever had put down the Captain and the crew of the luckless ship and, ultimately, it was decided to send three men to board her. A boat was lowered and Deveau, accompanied by John Wright, the Second Mate. Amnd John Johnson, rowed across to the Mary Celeste.

  Deveau ordered Johnson to remain in the boat when they tied up alongside the ship while he and Wright clambered aboard. The decks were deserted, the masts and yards creaked, the blocks groaned and rattled, while the sails flapped and banged in the breeze. The First Mate instructed Wright to attend the rigging while he went below to investigate. There was no one aboard yet the vessel was perfectly sound. The hull, masts, rigging and sails were in good condition, the cargo well-stowed and intact, with adequate food and water on board. There was no sign of damage or disorder or confusion, and no reason why the Captain or crew had abandoned her. The only sign of injury was reflected by the fact that the binnacle had been knocked down. The glass was broken and the compass was missing. There was no evidence of an abandonment, where clothes had been scattered wildly and possessions snatched hastily, or any indication of reason as to why the ship had become derelict. Even the pipes, tobacco and the clothes of the crew were in good order while the galley larder was stacked neatly and well-stocked. In the hold there was three-and-a-half feet of water and the cabin, forecastle and galley were a foot deep in water...seemingly to have entered by the way of an open skylight. In any case, the water level was no more than normal leakage and could easily have been pumped out. Deveau examined the cabins, carefully noting that personal valuable possessions had been left behind. He found a chart showing the direction of the Mary Celeste up to the twenty-fourth of November, and the Log Slate contained notes for entry into the Log with the last observation having been made at eight a.m. on the twenty-fifth of November. At that time, the ship had been at Latitude 37.01N by Longitude 25.01W, six miles distance from the north-eastern point of St. Mary.....the most easterly island of the Azores group. On checking, he noticed that the vessel was situated some 378 miles to the north-east which meant that after eleven days of drifting the ship was still on the exact course to Gibraltar. The navigational instruments and all the ship’s papers were missing but the Log book was still secure, explaining that on the day of abandonment...the twenty-fourth of November...the Mary Celeste had been a hundred and ten miles westward of St. Mary.

  As far as the record shows, the Mary Celeste, with no one aboard, had proceeded to Gibraltar on an exact course for eleven days covering 378 miles. Some of the rigging was in poor shape, and it was necessary to pump out the water in the hold, but apart from that it was apparently a healthy ship, sufficiently seaworthy to go round the world.

  The First Mate sounded the pumps, collected John Wright, and returned to Johnson in the life-boat. A short while later, he reported the facts to Captain Morehouse and the rest of the crew of the Dei Gratia. As expected, in the absence of true facts, there was a great deal of speculation. Nonetheless, they had stumbled on a salvage prize which could provide them all with a tidy sum. The decision on whether to take in the Mary Celeste as a salvage ship or not had to be taken by Captain Morehouse. With seven men besides himself, both ships would be desperately undermanned if he split the crew. In his opinion, if bad weather involving serious storms broke out, and one or two men in each ship were sick injured or lost at sea, or killed accidentally, it was possibly that both ships would end up as derelicts or wrecks. In addition, he had a duty to the owners of his own vessel as well as the company which had entrusted him with its cargo. He dwelt on the matter for some considerable time, fighting down the greed which welled-up inside him, ignoring the obvious points made to him by Deveau on the profit they would make. However, he was forced to listen to the crew who discussed eagerly what they would do with their share of the bounty. However when weighing the dangers to his vessels and cargo and the risk to himself and the few crew under his command, the most advisable decision would be to leave the Mary Celeste in her present position and report the incident to the authorities at the earliest possible moment. But he knew if he held to a decision of that nature his position as Captain could change considerably to one of extreme unpleasantness. In their present, feverish greed state, the crew would not take kindly to the fact that someone else would gain from their discovery. If that were the case, they would receive a plethora of gratitude and nothing else. Ultimately, if he did not agree to take in the Mary Celeste as a salvage ship, it was highly likely that the crew would mutiny. They would throw him over the side, providing them with an even larger share because there would be one less participant with whom to divide the salvage award.

  Deveau kept pressing him hard to take the Mary Celeste to Gibraltar and, in due course, Captain Morehouse was forced to weaken. He was careful to explain to the First Mate that the risk to life could be very hight, with two very reduced crews, and the men would need to be certain they were willing to accept such a risk. That was all Deveau required. He went on to discuss the matter with the men and returned shortly to claim that the crew were unanimous in their decision to take in their prize.

  On the fifth of December, 1872, the Log of the Dei Gratia recorded the following:

  ‘Course SE and E wind NNE. Begins with Fresh breeze and clear, sea still running heavy but wind moderating. Saw a sail to the E 2 pm. Saw she was under a very short canvas steering very wild and evidently in distress. Hauled up to speak to her and render assistance if necessary. At 3pm hailed her and getting no answer and seeing no one on deck got out and sent mate and two men on board, sea running high at the time. He boarded her without accident and returned in about an hour and reported her to be the Mary Celeste of and from New York to Genoa abandoned with three-and-a-half feet of water in the hold.’

  Subsequently, Deveau, Charles Lund, and Augustus Anderson collected some food for their evening meal , a compass, a barometer, a watch and a few other navigational instruments and returned to the derelict vessel. All three went aboard at approximately four pm. on the fifth of December, 1872, and by nine pm. they had pumped her dry, set her sails and got the ship under way. However it took them nearly three days to get her shipshape in order to make real headway,

  For several days both ships remained in sight of each other, with contact being made each morning and evening. Then severe storms were experienced causing the two vessels to lose sight of each other. At this time they were approaching the Straits and the Mary Celeste was swept past Gibraltar and along the Spanish coast thirty or forty miles to the east. The ship did not return to Gibraltar until the thirteenth of December, the morning after the Dei Gratia had made the port. Immediately, the crew of three were faced by a police contingent led by Mr. T.J. Vecchio, Master of the British Vice-Admiralty Court who impounded the ve
ssel and placed her under guard.

  In the meantime, the crew of the Dei Gratia had communicated with the mainland concerning the arrival of the phantom ship, while the whole of Gibraltar buzzed excitedly with the news.

  On the sixteenth and seventeenth of December, 1872, Lloyds List recorded the arrival of the derelict, stating that she had been taken into possession of the Admiralty Court. The Liverpool Mercury was much more explanatory:

  ‘The Mary Celeste was found abandoned under foremast staysail and jib. She had been pursuing her way for ten days without a soul on board. Even more strange is the fact that every document which could throw light on this mystery is missing. There is not the slight clue to account for the desertion of the vessel and every conjecture is at fault. The vessel sustained to injury, no clothes or personal possessions had been taken, and even a little phial of oil was found standing by a sewing-machine, and a reel of cotton and a thimble not yet rolled off the table in the cabin. The contents of the cabin indicated the one time presence of a lady and child. On sinister matters, a sword was found in the cabin bearing marks of blood on it, and there were sharp cuts on the vessel’s bulwarks. The whole thing is an absolute mystery and there is no trace of the lady, the child, the Captain or the crew.’

  Prior to the news breaking to the rest of the world, on Saturday, the fourteenth of December, 1872, the Disaster Clerk of the Atlantic Insurance Company was handed a copy of a cablegram from Gibraltar which was addressed as follows:

  ‘Parker, New York. Found forth and brought Mary Celeste. Abandoned seaworthy. Admiralty impost. Notify all parties. Telegraph offer of salvage.

  Morehouse.’

  The name of Parker referred to John W. Parker of the firm of Henry & Parker, brokers, of 25 Coenties Ship, New York, who were part owners also of the Dei Gratia. The contents of the cable were communicated immediately to J.W. Winchester & Co. at 52 South Street, and to various companies insuring the hull and freight interests. These are outlined, together with insurance amounts, below.

  Marine Lloyds 6,000.00

  Orient Mutual Insurance Company 4,000.00

  Mercantile Mutual Insurance Company 2,500.00

  New England Mutual Insurance

  Company 1,500.00

  --------------

  14,000.00

  Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company 3 400.00

  (on freight interests only)

  ---------------

  Total 17,400.00

  -------------

  In normal circumstances, the salvage award would be quite considerable, perhaps up to fifty per cent of the ship’s value and cargo, but the case of the Mary Celeste was unusual, and the course of justice would tend to be clogged with uncertainties, speculation and disbelief.

  In 1942, Charles Edey Fay, a senior executive of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company considered the situation of the Mary Celeste as follows:

  Sunday, November 24th 1872

  It is noon, and according to the observation taken at this time and noted on the vessel’s log, the Mary Celeste is in the latitude 36 56’N and longitude 27 20’W. All of the Azores group are now astern except San Miguel (St. Michael’s) off to the north east by about a hundred miles distant, and Santa Maria (St. Mary’s) about a hundred-and-ten miles directly east and therefore precisely dead ahead of the Mary Celeste She is making eight knots at which rate she continues until seven pm. when, with freshening wind, her speed increased to nine knots. The night promises to be a stormy one and, at eight o’clock when the first watch comes on duty, they take in her royal and topgallant sails. By nine pm. her speed drops back to eight knots, at which rate she continues up to midnight. At this time...twelve o’clock midnight....the log reads: ‘Knots 8: Course E by S: Wind, west: MP rainy.’

  It is probable that, by this time, the at the speed the vessel had been making since Sunday at noon, she has travelled about ninety miles and must be nearing the western end of Santa Maria island. (It is a matter of official records that stormy conditions prevailed over the Azores on November the 24th and 25th).

  Monday, November 25th 1872

  Midnight is passed and a new eventful day is beginning. The progress of the vessel continues steadily. One o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock, four o’clock, the entry against each hour reads the same....8 knots. Soon the first streaks of dawn will be visible and now there is land ahead., for the log-slate entry reads: ‘At 5 made the island of S. Mary’s bearing ESE’and a similar entry appears against the sixth hour. With this bearing, it seems that the point of land observed by the vessel’s watch must be Ponta Cabrestante which is the north-western extremity of St. Mary’s. The vessel is now approximately in latitude 37 0’ which is slightly further north than her position the previous day at noon when she was in latitude 36 56’. But why, we inquire, was Captain Briggs, or whoever is directing the vessel’s course, taking her to the north of St. Mary’s when it must be known by all hands that in order to reach Genoa they must pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, which lies off the south east in the lower latitude of 37 57’? Surely he is not planning to land along the island’s north shore, as it is well-known to all navigators that neither here nor elsewhere on this island are there any harbours where vessels can find safe accommodation. Moreover he must also know that about twenty-one miles to the northeast of the island’s north east extremity lies the dangerous Dollabarat Shoal on which the sea breaks with great violence in stormy weather, but whose barely hidden rocks are not visible when the sea is calm. His present course, if continued, will take him between this shoal and the northeast end of the island. With a shifting wind...not an unusual occurrence in these waters....the vessel’s position might become a very perilous one...but Captain Briggs is a capable mariner and it is safe to assume that he will not do anything reckless or careless, especially at such a time when the safety of his wife and child, in addition to that of his crew, is at stake. But now the ship’s bell sounds eight times, indicating that it is eight o’clock on this memorable Monday morning. By this time, the vessel, according to the track noted on her chart, has skirted the island’s north shore, and now comes the final record when the log slate reads: ‘At 8. Eastern point bore SSW 6 miles distant.’ After this, silence!

  (This Eastern point was in all probability Ponta Castello, at the south-east of the island which stands out more prominently that Ponta Matos, at the island north-east extremity).

  Naturally there was a strong belief that the Captain and the crew of the Mary Celeste had taken to the long-boat for one reason or another and that they would be discovered on a distant shore in due course, but this never happened. Some months later in May, 1873, the Liverpool Daily Albion printed the following item:

  ‘A sad story of the sea - a telegram from Madrid says: Some fishermen at Baudas in Asturias, have found two rafts with a corpse lashed to it, and an African flag flying on the second raft with five decomposed bodies. It is not know to what vessel they belong.’

  The chances of these cadavers having ‘escaped’ from the Mary Celeste is less than reasonable to expect. No one really accepted it to be so. In the coming months, following the date the vessel was taken into custody in Gibraltar, there would be three major theories.

  1. That the Captain and the crew had abandoned the vessel of their own free will in a moment of panic.

  2. That the Captain, his wife and child and the Mate had been victims of foul play; and

  3. That the major owner of the vessel had hired the crew to do away with the officers on some kind of insurance fraud.

  Whatever the reason, the forthcoming salvage claim was to have some strange twisting turns....with unusual results.

  The Testimony

  For many years prior to 1871, successive governors had been caused anxiety by the overcrowding within the fortress of Gibraltar. By 1844, the population had risen to 15,823 when a new classification
was adopted to define British and alien populations, which were 12,182 and 3,641 respectively. The former comprised 995 persons of British Isles stock - including service families - 9,802 natives and 1,385 British and native Jews. Among the aliens there were 1,892 Spaniards, 782 Genoese, 525 Portuguese and 240 Barbary Jews. The remaining 202 came from many different countries, including France and Italy. By the census of 1871, the total population had reached 18,695, although cholera epidemics affected numbers from time to time.

  The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 did not result in rapid commercial developments in Gibraltar and the period until near the end of the century.....when the naval harbour was built.....was not particularly prosperous. Consequently, the pattern of existence on the Rock was motley and uninspiring. Lieutenant-General Sir George Don was appointed Lieutenant-Governor in 1814, and it was he who built many famous monuments, such as the Alameda Gardens, the Exchange Building, the Civil Hospital (now St. Bernard’s Hospital), and the Law Courts. Nearly all the activity in the nineteenth century occurred in Main Street, and Sir George decided to build the Law Courts there to allow easy access for those who wished to see justice carried out. After 1830, the Courts were closely related in style and practice to the English Courts, and on Wednesday the eighteenth of December, 1872.....five days after the arrival of the Mary Celeste.....the Court was assembled to hear the salvage claim by the crew of the Dei Gratia. But there were other important issues to be pursued in this case - including the possibility of mutiny, murder and conspiracy. The eyes of the world would be on Gibraltar and the result would depend on the skill of the law.