The Mary Celeste is such a mystery that has not been solved even today after so many centuries.
On 4 December 1872 a ship called Dei Gratia was sailing in the open ocean after leaving the city of New York when suddenly the ship saw another ship sailing a few miles away. It was noticed that the sails of the other ship were rigged incorrectly for the prevailing winds. As Dei Gratia approached this ship, the captain used a speaking trumpet to hail the crew of the other ship to no avail.
This was seen as strange as they did not get a response. So, the captain sent 2 crew members to board the strange ship and investigate things. The crew members boarded the ship and were shocked to see that there was no one in it. It was a ghost ship. The crew thought that the ship might be taking in water and that is why it was abandoned. So, they checked the hold to see if any sea water was entering. The hold had about 3.5 feet of water, nothing to get alarmed about. Also, the pumps were working, so the water could have been pumped out.
As the crew searched the ship, the conundrum became thicker. People had just left their possessions on board and disappeared. It looked as though they had just stepped out and would return any minute. Money, clothes, razors, navy veteran t shirt and pipes were all still there in the cabins. The ship also had food supply for 6 months and lots of drinking water.
After researching the ship, the crew were satisfied that there was no one on board. On checking the log, it was found that the Mary Celeste was most probably abandoned about 10 days ago and had managed to sail crewless for about 500 miles without any other ship discovering it. It did not seem like a good idea to go looking for the people who were no the Mary Celeste. It was believed that they must have been rescued by a passing ship.
The captain of Dei Gratia decided to tow the ship to the nearest port and put up a claim for salvage. Mary Celeste was towed to Gibraltar on 13 December.
However, on shore it was found that no one from Mary Celeste was rescued. This led to an investigation. The fortunate crew and captain of the Dei Gratia were accused of killing all the souls on board the Mary Celeste. However, the captain was a gentleman of good reputation. So, this accusation did not stand.
Then it was supposed that the ship had a mutiny that led to murders. Some reddish brown stains were found on the deck to give more credence to this theory. Also, an old sword was found in the captain’s cabin that had blood-like stains. The stains were checked and it was found that they were not blood.
Another theory was then crafted. It was believed that the ship may have heading to a rocky shore and the people on board thought that it was going to capsize. So, they abandoned the ship.
Even today, no one has been able to solve the mystery of Mary Celeste. No one knows what happened to the people and crew on board the ship and how did they manage to disappear without leaving a single trace.
write by Christabel