Marie Celeste Mystery

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 256, 13 October 1923, Page 13

Marie Celeste Mystery

A CHRONOMETER CLUE. (By T. E. Elwell, in “Chamhors’s Journal.’’) The case o f the Marie Celeste has ix'< n (-ailed th.- “classic mystery of the sea.” 'l'liis should not lie so, if some ol (lie statements about her are correct. But. tin's- statements differ most widely. Mr. J. L. Ilornibrook, in “('ham het.s’.s Journal” for October, 1901, gi\« s her name as Malic Celeste, and '|iin> a yarn cl Spanish authorities aslure flighting (lie vessel drilling about near the Straits of Gibraltar. H< adds that she was hoarded by men Irani the shore, 110 calls her “an ordinary trading vessel, loaded with a general cargo,” and considers I lie finding to have taken place in the “early Then Mr. 11. A. Dutton, in th*' ‘‘Overland Monthly" (vol. xlviii, 1906), calls her the .Mary Celeste. He was followed by a writer in “Chambers's Journal'' lor November. 1921, who leans to “Mary,” and tells how the vessel was picked up in December, 1872, by Captain Moorhouse, of the Dei Giatia, and sent into Gibraltar in the charge of his mate and two seamen. He believes the cargo consisted of alcohol. Finally, the “Liverpool Weekly Courier - for the 9th December. 1922, reverts to “Marie,” calls her a yacht, and informs all who are interested that she was chartered by a New York firm from her owner, a Mr. J. 11, Winchester. There are thus two names, two rigs (one writer calls her a brigantine), two cargoes, two dates, and two accounts of tlie finding to deepen the mystery. Nay! this secondary puzzle may well transcend the primary one. The writer, when a hoy at sea, often heard the case discussed by sailors, and dismissed as being beyond explanation. The facts, so far as he remembers, were, in the main, in accord with those of the last account in Chambers’s —namely, that the mysterious vessel was named the Marie Celeste, that she was a brigantine (square-rigged on fore, and fore and aft on main), that she was picked up at sea, and that she carried a cargo of alcohol. The same writer added a further link, the strongest in the whole chain—that the ship’s chronometer was missing. That statement is the key to the mystery and the cause of this article.

There is a curious unanimity about the number of her crew; all accounts agree on 17 men, exclusive of the captain,, his wife, and infant daughter. Here again is an item that joggles in the eyes and ears of a sailor like a billiard ball across the mouth of a pocket. It will not go down without further help. Seventeen men is an enormous crew for a brigantine; a fourmaster barque of tons register, able to take four Marie Celestes iu her hold, could sail round the world with a crew of 20 men. Also, we note that three men took the brigantine into Gibraltar. This crew of piratical dimensions needs verification.

The Marie Celeste, then, was found adrift at sea, without a soul on board. The galley fire was still alight, and a meal in fresh condition was spread upon the cabin table. A watch was ticking in the captain’s rodm, and a considerable sum of money was found in a drawer. The jib and foretopmast staysail were set, and some sails and gear had disappeared, but none of her boats were missing. A smear of blood oh one of the rails was the only evidence of violence.

The official log had been written up to November 24, 1872, when in lat, 35deg. 56min north, and long. 27deg. 29min west. The slate log was written up to 8 a.m- on the 25th, The vessel nud made a good course during the ten silent days, and apparently was abandoned oil December 5.

Now a captain will risk his lite in an attempt to secure his ship's papers, out not to save a chronometer. This is needed tor but one purpose—to navigate a snip.

The weather tor the last three months or 18/2 was exceptionally fierce, many large ship a being abanuuned at sea. For October alone, a sum or £293 was paid as a reward to the crews ol lifeboats around our coasts. At Broadstairs, in November, half of the pier was carried away. The steamer Mu minus was lost off Fort Patrick, and at Stralsund 60 fishing smacks foundered. Keeping these facts in mind, we can reconstruct what happened on the high seas, a little to the south-west of the Azores, on November 24, 1872. The officer on watch sighted an abandoned vessel, probably a steamer. He called the captain, and all hands wore soon on deck, turning their eyes first towards the derelict, and then on the captain. Here was the chance that all sailors talk of, and so few see materialise. A short run into Gibraltar, and then a huge sum to be divided among them. Would the Old Man chance it? The Old Man would- The mate with two men could take the Marie into Gibraltar, and there wait. The major portion of the crew, himself included, would follow with the prize. There was no need, to lower a boat; the brigantine could be laid alongside. Or, if a boat was lowered, the mate, with his crew of two, could make shift to hoist it again.

Thus the transfer was made, the last to leave being the captain with his wife and daughter, the ship’s chronometer and all papers. A ringing cheer came from the steamer, was returned by the trio they had left, and the sailing ship stood away on her course.

But it proved a fatal exchange. The steamer was strained; the crew proved too small for the task, and during a gale the water gained upon them. The prize was one of the cogged dice thrown by Fata at men’s feet. They picked it up, made a bold throw—and lost.

Meanwhile the brigantine is making steady progress. She has been stripped of all sail, save that which two men can comfortably handle. No hurry, of course; they do not wish to wait for days in Gibraltar. One man steers for four hours at a time; the other two sleep within calling distanceThus she would have reached Gibraltar, but for her cargo of alcohol. 1 see the mate standing his trick at rhe wheel, oblivious of the stealthy re_ moval of the fore hatches under cover of the forward house. 1 see a barrel broached, two men filling a couple of buckets, and replacing the hatches and tarpaulin. They begin to drink, grow quarrelsome, and are soon at each other’s throats. Then comes a cry of horror, for one has loosened his grip, and his victim sinks lifeless to the deck. The mate releases the wheel anti rushes, forward, to lie met with a blow on the head with a belaying-pin. As .well then as afterwards, for he could never have taken the brigantine to port, handicapped as he was by a doomed man who sought his life. So two bodies are tumbled over the side, and the murderer turns again to the bucket. He exults, sings, raves, fights imaginary enemies, and while crouching on the top-gallant bulwarks, shaking his fists at the. screaming gulls, he leans too far. slips, and is the last of the Marie Celeste’s crew to die. Such may well lie the solution of the classic mystery of the sea, drawn from a missing chronometer and a cargo of alcohol. ♦ J®*®*®*®*®*®*®*®*©*®.