Mary Celeste mystery solved?!

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Mike!

A very good theory, with only one flaw;

the alcohol was ethanol, which is lethal!

In another words; they would have got killed before they started to fight...

All the best
Jukka

[The Good Michael]

No, ethanol is what we drink, or what you Finns drink. Methanol is the lethal stuff, though it may not be a bad way to go.

Mike

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Michael!

Oh sorry, I meant methanol!

I had a bad degree in chemistry, sorry!

Cheers!

All the best
Jukka

[Karmi-Sempai]

Interview with One of the Men Aboard

There was this published paper speaking of a young man who was apparently on the Mary Celeste when the crew were "murdered", according to his account. It all turned out to be a hoax written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to popularize himself before submitting the Sherlock Holmes series into print.

[Stewart P Evans]

Masterly Account

The book Mary Celeste The Odyssey of an Abandoned Ship by Charles Edey Fay, Salem, Peabody Museum, 1942, is a masterly account of the case and gives a theory based on an alcohol leak in the hold. I have an autographed copy in my collection.

There was an interesting idea 'floated' by Harold T. Wilkins in the July 1932 issue of Quarterly Review which concerned alleged dark deeds by the crew of the Dei Gratia. In 1931 Wilkins received a letter from Mrs. Priscilla Richardson Shelton, sister of the mate of the Mary Celeste, which supported the idea of foul play by the crew of the Dei Gratia. Apparently, the latter vessel sailed sailed from New York eight days after the Mary Celeste, not ten days before as claimed by Mrs. Shelton. Wilkins wrote to Mrs. Shelton querying her dates but received no reply.

According to Wilkins, Lloyd's British and Foreign Shipping List for 1872 recorded that the Dei Gratia put to sea from New York on 2 October, and did not clear until 11 November, 1872. 'Her actual sailing date was not reported. It is suggested that she may have remained in port for several days after that.' The Mary Celeste was stated to have sailed from New York on 7 November, 1872. Of interest here, of course, is the fact that Wilkins felt that there was 'a criminological aspect of this mystery of the sea...'

For those interested in this mystery I recommend Paul Begg's update Mary Celeste The Greatest Mystery of the Sea, Harlow, Pearson Longman, 2005, which is especially important as Appendix II is a full Transcript of the Gibraltar Proceedings.


The Mary Celeste a wood engraving in three colours by Rudolph Ruzicka (Fay).

[Mike Covell]

I ordered Paul Begg's account from Amazon a few days ago and eagerly await it's arrival!!

[Graham]

A bit off-thread, admitted, but it's said that when our own dear Prince Eddy was in the Royal Navy (bet he loved it...) when rounding the Horn (whatever that means, and it sounds impressivley rude) he saw the Flying Dutchman.

Cheers,

Graham

[YankeeSergeant]

Prince Eddy

That story is popular here in the U.S. as well. I'll have to look for PAul Begg's book Sounds fascinating.

[Chris Scott]

For those in the Uk there is a programme on Channel 5 this evening at 8 pm

Mary Celestse: The Mystery
"Documentary investigating what happened to the mysterious ship discovered adrift in the middle of the ocean without captain or crew."

"The fate of the legendary vessel, which was found drifting off the shores of the Azores, unmanned but in full working order - is investigated by a decendant of the ship's captain"

[Nemesis Legion]

On the subject of the Mary Celeste mystery (which I have been following for a few years now) there are a few high seas mystery that are less well known but just as odd

For example ...

The Carroll A. Deering

The Baychimo

The Jian Seng

The MV Joyita

and of course The Flying Dutchman

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Nemesis!


Don't forget the persons;

for example, Henry Hudson...

All the best
Jukka

[Mayerling]

Also

Captain Joshua Slocum

Donald Crowhurst (although most likely a suicide, considering his journal on his last voyage).

The Waratah

The Monique

Richard Halliburton

HMS Erebus and HMS Terror

Sir John Franklin

John Cabot

the French zeppelin Dixmude (over the Mediterranean).

Nungesser and Coli (Paris to New York in May 1927).

Best wishes,

Jeff

[Doppelganger]

i believe i ve heard that theory before in a doc on youtube.

[Shangas]

For those who don't know what it means, "rounding the horn" isn't rude at all.

It refers to 'rounding' (ie - going around), Cape Horn, on the tip of South America. Before the construction of the Panama Canal, this was the only way to get from the West coast to the East Coast of the USA, without taking a round-the-world trip. The waters off Cape Horn are the most dangerous in the world and even today, ships which try this passage are in incredible danger of being sunk.

The Queen Mary II was built too large to go through the locks of the Panama Canal, so when it makes its round the world cruises, it too, must "round the Horn".

[Robert]

http://www.archive.org/details/phantom_ship