The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-06
4 TALE OF THU SEA.
The Disappearance Of the Grew Of
the Marie Celeste.
A DYING SAILORS STORY OF AN
OCEAN MYSTERY.

1t Recalls Famous Case and Introduces
Into Its History Three Murders-It
Reads Like the Delusion of a Wander
ing Mind and That Is Very Likely What
1t Is.
By the confession of dying man, the
greatest Of all the great mysteries of the
sea has been explained away; myst cry
which has for years baffled the intelli-
gence, the ingenuity and tie imagination
of people in every walk of life the world
over.
On his death bed, in far-o6 Iquioue
Peru, one Jacob Hammell has given to
the world the strange abandonment of
the famous American brig Marie Celeste,
bhe story Of which has long since passed
into the list of unfathomable puzzles of
the ocean.
To.most seafaring men the story of the
Marie Celeste is well-known. To thou
sands of land.lubbers it has served as a
mental exercise, but up to now no theory
Of her abandonment has been advanced
which was not readily controvertible by
she facts in the case.
Shorn of Its details, the case, as some
may remember, was as follows:
Some fifteen years or SO ago British
ship, homeward bound from the East
Indies, sighted vessel under all plain
sail, off the northwest coast of Africa.
Passing close by, it was observed that
the strange craft made no responses to
signals, and also appeared to be ring
rather wildly. The wind being light and
the weather fine at the time, 1t was re-
cordingly lowered. Upon reaching the
mysterious vessel, it was found that there
was not soul on board. She was found
to be the Marie Celeste, which had sailed
from the United States about four weeks
previously, bound to Mediterranean
port. And then followed series of the
most remarkable discoveries. In the first
place it was found that the vessel was
staunch and in perfect condition. Not
a spar or sail was damaged, the rigging
was intact, the cargo was secure and in
good condition, nothing but the normal
amount of bilge water was in the hold,
and the only thing missing was one boat,
in which the crew had evidently left, and,
what was still more strange, was the
rapid accumulation of evidence that the
abandonment had been made in great
haste. All the clothing and other effects
of the officers and crew were on board,
dinner was being cooked in the galley,
the embers of the fire being still warm.
In the cabin, the captains wife had evil
IDENTIFY been sewing when the sudden de-
parture was ordered, as her sewing ma
chine was open, with some sewing still
in it. A candle-stick was still standing
which, with other evidences, showed that
the weather was smooth when the flight
took place. The smooth log had been
written up to two days before the vessel
was sighted, and rough log up to about
twelve hours before. Neither showed that
the least thing out of the ordinary had
occurred. On the contrary both proved
that the voyage up to the time of the last
entry had been very prosperous and
happy.
The mysterious craft was towed into
Gibraltar by the rescuing ship and turned
over to the port officials. To make long
story short, it may be said that the long
and exhaustive investigation of the
United States Consul, the British Ad-
miralty, the Lloyds and the United
States Department of State instead of
clearing up the mystery, only served to
deepen it. For instance, there was found
absolutely no signs of struggle or violence
the captain and crew were particularly
fine ones, and she was what is known as
"hsppy ship" Some spots on the deck
were found by chemical analysis to be
chicken blood, as might have.been expect
ed, as fowl was being prepared for the
captains dinner when the vessel was dis
covered. So, after months and years of
thorough Investigation, the case was
finally abandoned as being one of the in
sorutable mysteries of the sea.
OF course, SO marvellous an event as the
hasty flight of all hands from a perfectly
sound vessel. the log of which, together
with the reports, afterwards collected
from vessels which had been in her
vicinity throughout her voyage, showed
that no bad weather worth mentioning
had been encountered; flight with ALSO
lutely no plausible reason, naturally ex-
cited imaginative minds in every land.
Novelists and romancers, as we'll as pro-
fessional puzzle-solvers, tried their hands
at the solution of the mystery, but in
each and every case the conclusions ar
rived at were indisputably disproved by
some facts, some evidence in the case.
So it went on for years. until the affair
has now well nigh faded from general
view. Here, however, must be cited one
incident in the long process of investiga-
ton, which is the only connecting link
between the final report Of the United
States and British authorities, and the
solution which has now been furnished
by the dying man in South America.
This was, that in the investigations by
the State Department in Washington, it
was found that the mate of the Marie &C.
leste. a man named Briggs had. inst he