MARIE CELESTE.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2779, 22 October 1923, Page 8

MARIE CELESTE.

CLASSIC MYSTERY OF THE SEA. A CHRONOMETER CLUE. The case of the Marie Celeste has been called the "classic mystery of the sea.” This should not be so, if some of the statements about her are correct. But these statements differ most most widely. Mr J. L, Hornibrook, in “Chambers’ Journal” for October, 1904, gives her name as Marie Celeste, and spins a yarn of Spanish authorities ashore sightseeing tiic vessel drifting about near the Straits of Gibraltar. He adds that she was boarded by men from the shore. Ho calls her an ordinary trading vessel, loaded with a general cargo, and considers the finding to have taken place in the “early sixties."

Then Mr IT. A. Dutton, in the “Overland Monthly” (vol. xlviii, 1906) calls her the Mary Celeste. • He was followed by a writer in “Chambers’ Journal” for November, 1921, who leans to “Mary” and tells how the vessel was picked up in December, 1873, by Captain Moorhouse, of the Dei Gratia, 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 December 9, 1932, reverts to “Marie,” calls her a yacht, and informs all who are interested that she was chartered by a NeNv.'j York firm from her owner, a Mr J. H. Winchester. There arc thus two names, two rigs (one writer calls her a brigantine), two cargoes, two dates, and two accounts of the finding to deepen the*mystery. Nay. this secondary puzzle may well transcend the primary one. The writer, when a boy 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’ ” —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 agroc on 17 men, exclusive of the captain, his wife, and infanf daughter. Here again is an item that! joggles in the eyes and oars 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 four-masted barque of 2200 tons register, able to take four Marie Celestes in her hold, could sail round the world with a crew of 20 men. Also. we note that three men took the brigantine into Gibraltar. J his ciew of piratical dimensions needs verification.

The Marie Celeste, then, was found adrift at sea, without a soul on board, The galley (Ire was still ailght, and a meal in fresh condition' was spread upon the cabin table. A watch was ticking in the captain’s room, 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 on one of the rails was the only evidence of violence. The oflicial log had been written up to November 24, when in lab, 35dcg. 86.m1n., north, and long. 27deg. 25 min., west. The slate log was written up to 8 a.m. on the 25th. vessel had made a good course during the 10 silent days and apparently was abandoned on December 5. Now a captain will risk bis life in an attempt to secure his ship’s papers, but not to save a chronometer. This is needed for but one purpose) — to navigate a ship. Tire weather for the last three months of 1872 was exceptionally fierce, many large ships being abandoned at sea. For October alone, a sum of £293 was paid as a reward to the crews of lifeboats around our coasts. At Broadstairs, in November, half of the pier was carried away. The steamer Mauritius was lost off Port Patrick, and at Stralsund 60 fishing smacks foundered. Keeping these facts in mind, we can necon-1 struct what happened on the high seas, a little 1o tho south-west of the Azores, on November 24, 1 872.

The officer on watch sighted an abandoned vessel, probably a steamer. Ho called the captain, and all hands were soon on deck, turning their eyes first toward 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 crow 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 Fate at men’s feet. They picked it rip, 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 distance.

Thus she would have reached Gibraltar, but for her cargo of alcohol, I see the mate standing his trick at the wheel, oblivious of the stealthy removal of the fore hatches under cover of the forward house. I see a barrel broached, two men filling a couple of buckets, and replacing the hatches and tarpaulin. They began 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 decks. The mate releases the wheel and rushes forward, to bo met with a blow on the, head with a belay - ing-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 arc 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 screaming gulls, ho leans too far, slips, and is the last of Marie Celeste’s crew to die. Such may well be the solution of this classic mystery of the sea, drawn from a missing chronometer, and a cargo of alcohol.—T. E. Elwell in “Chambers’ Journal,” •