Mary Celeste

MARY CELESTE

  What happened to the crew of the “Mary Celeste” today remains a complete mystery. Let's review the facts:  

On November 7, 1872, Captain Benjamin Briggs and the crew of the Mary Celeste, a merchant ship with a large cargo of alcohol, left the port of New York for Genoa, Italy. On board were seven crew members selected by Briggs along with his wife and daughter.

However, they would never reach their destination. After leaving, it is known that the Mary Celeste fought through bad weather, treacherous seas, and strong winds for the next two weeks. Then on November 25, the captain completed what would be the last record entry. At the time, nothing was wrong with the ship.  

Less than a month after the departure of the Mary Celeste, on December 5, the British ship Dei

Gratia was about 400 miles east of the Azores when crew members spotted a drifting ship. Captain David Morehouse was surprised to discover that the unguided ship was the Mary Celeste, which had left eight days earlier and should have already reached Genoa.

Morehouse changed course to offer help.

The captain sent a boarding party to the ship. When they arrived, below the decks the ship's letters appeared to have been blown up, and the crew's belongings were still in their rooms. The ship's only lifeboat had disappeared, and one of its two bombs had been dismantled.

Inside, there were several inches of water splashing in the bilge, the ship's lowest point below the waterline, although the 1,701-barrel load of industrial alcohol was still largely intact. There was a six-month supply of food and water, but not a soul to consume.

We come to the big question that surely everyone asks themselves after reading this story: what happened? I thought about it a thousand times, and still I couldn't make sense of it, so I consulted the internet, there I read a theory that, although it seems the plot of a horror movie, was the one that convinced me the most:  

“The cook of the "Mary Celeste" drove the entire crew insane and poisoned one after the other, chicken on the stove and then served three cups of poisoned tea, then threw their bodies  beginning with Captain Benjamin Briggs on the night of November 24; hence, his last entry in the logbook. On December 4 only three men were left on board, for whom the cook prepared a

overboard. But when he saw the "Dei Gratia", he suddenly recovered his reason and wanted to

atone for his horrible crime, launching himself into the waves as well.”

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