The Mary Celeste was a ship that was found in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and sailing to the Strait of Gibraltar. This boat was found in 1872 by Oliver Deveau and his crew members from the Dei Gratia. The Mary Celeste was also known as a "Ghost Ship" which means it was riding on its own with no passengers. The crew members of the Dei Gratia found the ship to be in great condition, although they said that "the whole ship was a throughly wet mess."
In the ships storage was 1.7k barrels of raw alcohol that we're worth three thousand dollars which back in 1872 must of been a lot. The crew members of the Mary Celeste we're not attacked by pirates, for the boat would of been in horrid condition.
The ship's pantry consisted of six months worth of uncooked food. None of the Mary Celeste's passengers have been found since the time they went missing. The odds of their fate and what happened ever being known is slim. The ships sextant and chronometer we're not found, and the Mary Celeste's lifeboat appeared to be purposely released rather than torn away, suggesting that the Mary Celeste could have been abandoned.
Pictures of what the Mary Celeste could of looked like can be found here, resources from "Wikipedia"
The Mary Celeste's captain was "Benjamin S. Briggs" who was American and was born April 24 1835 and was thirty-five years old when the ship was found. The Mary Celeste was originally named the Amazon, but when owned by another man, was renamed to be the Mary Celeste. Only 40 years ago, after the Mary Celeste was found, Abel Fosdyk claimed that he had been a secret passenger on the ship. Fosdyk claimed that Captain Briggs and server al other crew members jumped overboard. The boat then collapsed, tossing the rest of the people on the ship, into the sea. Fosdyk, the only survivor, landed atop a shattered piece of the deck and floated for serveral days on the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Finally, he washed ashore on the eastern coast of Africa. Below is a timeline from Wikipedia.
- 1861 - Amazon built
- 1869 - Amazon renamed Mary Celeste
- 1872 - Sets sail from New York City to Genoa, Italy on November 7
- 1872 - Last entry in captain's logbook dated November 24
- 1872 - Last entry on ship's slate dated November 25
- 1872 - Ship found abandoned on December 4
- 1885 - Ship wrecked on reef captained by Parker on January 3
- 2001 - Remains of wreck rediscovered off coast of Haiti (disputed)
I enjoyed your article and found it to be very informative. Good job!! I guess no one is going to believe Abel Fosdyk if he was claiming (40 years ago= 1967) that he was a survivor. That would mean he had to be 132 years old to be on the ship when it sailed.