Mary Celeste: The Cursed Mysterious Ship
It was November 7, 1872, when Mary Celeste, the 282-ship, set sail from New York Harbour to Genoa, Italy with Benjamin S. Briggs, the ship’s captain, his wife, Sarah, and their 2-year-old daughter, Sophia, along with 8 crew members on board. After 4 weeks, Mary Celeste was spotted about 400 miles east of the Azores adrift in the jerky seas by British brig Dei Gratia.
Ship’s charts were tossed about, and the crewmen’s belongings were still in their place properly. The only lifeboat on the ship was missing and one of its two pumps was disassembled. Interestingly 1701 barrels of industrial alcohol and six months of ration were left untouched, giving birth to one of the most complicated mysteries of the sea.
Mary Celeste, originally named Amazon, had an obscure history of sudden death of its first captain and a collision with another ship in the English Channel. Various theories ranging from crazed mutiny to pirates to sea monsters to natural disaster to fumes from industrial alcohol have been put forward, last one being the most believed. In 1984, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a story based on the case and postulated a capture by a vengeful ex-slave; a 1935 movie featured Bela Lugosi as a homicidal sailor. Attorney General Solly-Flood reopened the case, wrote summaries of his interviews and notes. But he could not make a dent in this case.
Macgregor, known for her investigative documentaries and using modern forensic techniques to historical questions, picked up the trail in 2002. She rejected various circulated theories using her proper investigation and modern day’s tools. However, suspicion grew about two German crewmen, brothers Volkert and Boye Lorenzen, as their personal belongings were not found on the ship. But later MacGregor rejected this theory herself after interviewing Lorenzen descendant.
MacGregor is still continuing her investigation and we are waiting eagerly for Mary Celeste mystery to be solved.
Post Written By - Bahana Saikia
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