MYSTERY OF THE SEA

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 235, 3 October 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

MYSTERY OF THE SEA

ABANDONED BARQUE. NO EVIDENCE—NOTHING. OF jril the skippers who have sailed the Seven Seas, Captain B. S. Briggs of the Yankee barque Marie Celeste has been the cause of the most speculation. Nautical experts, savants and literary geniuses of world repute have attempted to solve the riddle which he left in his uncertain wake—a wake which has led everywhere and nowhere upon the face of the mighty deep. With a staunch hull and strong rig, the Marie Celeste, on November 7, 1573. sailed from New York for Genoa with a cargo of alcohol in casks. Captain Briggs hailed from Marion, Mass. He took along his wife and two-year-old baby. The barque's two mates and one man of her crew were Americans. The other four men in her fo'c'sle were Germans. According to her log she passed the island of St. Mary's, in the Azores, on November 24. Ten days later the British barque Dei Gratia, bound from New York to Gibraltar, sighted her drifting aimlessly about under partial sail. Suspicious of her eccentric behaviour, Captain Boyce of the Dei Gratia, hailed her, but received no response, hoarding her, he made a discovery that set his jaws agape and his eyes staring. It was not a scene of blood and carnage, but a spectacle so peaceful that it was uncanny. The Marie Celeste had been mysteriously abandoned in the open sea. Abandoned, But Why? Bad weather had not caused her crew to leave her. A bottle of medicine was standing upright on the skipper's table, where a moderately heavy sea would have upset it. Pirates had not frightened Captain Briggs and his comrade's away. The cargo was undisturbed, and in the fo'c'sle were the sailors' chests,

filled with their clothing and .money, ■untouched. Skipper Briggs' gold watch hung' beside his berth. Sjarvation had not threatened. There was plenty of food. In the galley victuals had been prepared for the next meal. There was also plenty of water. And all about was sea room enough for a considerable cruise. No shoals or * rocky coasts were near. Yet there was every indication of a sudden, although peaceful, abandonment of the ship. Upon the log slate, following the usual routine entries, had been scrawled: "Fanny, my dear wife—" Log Entry Unfinished. The entry was unfinished. Apparently the interruption had coiue while the skipper was writing it. Was it to have been an account of something untoward that had befallen his spouse? And was this emergency the cause • of everyone: suddenly leaving the vessel?; , .. Mrs.- Briggs had hurriedly dropped her sewing. Upon her table in the cabin were threaded needle, scissors and a bit of partly-Sewed material, lying as'if 1 hastily tossed aside. On the. open melodean lay music that had apparently been played, since the cabin was last put to rights. There was still the impression left by a baby's head upon the pillow in the crib, and toys were strewn about on the cabin floor. On the wall the clock still ticked. The fore hatch was open, but whether one of the boats had been launched was a matter of doubt. If none was put to sea all aboard the Marie Celeste must either have gone into the sea or y been taken aboard some other craft. Yet in all of the intervening years no boat has reported visiting her.' And why should it? She was in excellent condition, ready to proceed on her cruise. If Captain Briggs, his family and crew did embark in one of his ship's boats it would probably have been sighted at sea or upon some beach even after it had overturned and drowned its human freight. No Evidence —Nothing. No signs of storm. No evidence of famine. No shortage of water. No fear of a dangerous coast. No evidence of piratical attack. No relics of mutiny, struggle or bloodshed. No leakage and nothing wrong with steering gear, rigging or navigating paraphernalia. What is the answer ? The owner, the late J. H. Winchester, ' of Uahway, N.,T., could never venture a solution. Neither could Messrs. Meis- : Vm-V £ ™ ami alld Company, the New < >1 .p° om s^e was chartered. ; her '''f 8 as to the fate of Accoid L T Pan o havc been offered, j accoiding to one, Captain Briggs be-

came insane as tlie result of rough ! weather encountered in the open sea. But granting that he did, were there not seven able-bodied men aboard, capable of resisting his crazy commands? According to another theory, the casks rattling about in the hold sprang a leak and the resulting alcohol fumes, threatening to smother those on board, caused their hasty exodus. But the evidence says that the cargo was intact. The Marie Celeste was taken in hand by Captain Boyce and the crew of the Dei Gratia. They sailed her to Gibraltar as a prize and she eventually fell into the hands of a skipper who, a dozen years later, was alleged to have run her upon a reef in order to collect insurance for her owners. Superstitious mariners believe that she had been cursed. Some doubted whether her baptism had been performed with real wine. The secret of her abandonment by Skipper Briggs remains the blackest of the world's nautical mysteries.

' was destined to cloak himself in a black secret that for half a century cast gloom Over what is perhaps the most famous family in America.. Appeared With Family. That fascinating, itinerant pack-bearer who thus appealed to the pity of Richford housewives had lately appeared with hi.s family at a farm on the outskirts of town. He had just turned 23, was keen of eye and joyful of heart, without fear or conscience—the dashing kind of adventurer that women love and men suspect. His name was Wi-lliam Avery Rockefeller. He was not a jot deaf, neither was ho mute, although for months he made liis new neighbours converse with him by pencil, upon a elate which he carried. He disappeared for long periods at a time, presumably to peddle his wares throughout the neighbouring country. Then after a while his role'changed. He suddenly outgrew his affliction and became "Doctor" Rockefeller, inventor and dispenser of a wondrous cure for cancer. Thereafter he generally returned home with plethoric purse.' Indeed, he was soon buying fine clothes, expensive shotguns, fast horses. He became a fearless whip, a dashing equestrian, a fine shot, a beau among women. In short, he was the chief sporting character of the community. Yet' he was a strict abstainer from alcohol.' He would have been quite the fine gentleman in appearance but for the eccentricity of leaving olf his necktie, the .better to display a big diamond stud in the bosom of his shirt.

Met Wife on Trip. Mystery always shrouded his long absences and his plenteous supply of ready money. It was while on one of his prolonged trijis that he met Eliza Davison, a prosperous farmer's daughter, whom he brought home to Ricliford as his wife. One of the several children born to them was John D. Rockefeller, later to be heralded as "the king of American multi-millionaires." About four years after the birth of this child of destiny the family commenced a long and tedious period of moving— to Moravia, Ohio; Oswego, York; Strongsville, Ohio, and Parma, Ohio. During this period the cancer doctor was home but little; yet while there he always improved his property by indulging a fad that seemed weirdly inconsistent with his lack of domesticity. This was a penchant for planting trees. Grove after grove still stand as monuments to his memory. Finally, in 1857, he moved his wife and children to a snug brick house in Cleveland. Soon afterwards he took his hat from its peg, stepped forth into tiie night and became a hazy memory. His son, John D., was then 18.