Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-01-18

Marie Celeste a brig which sailed
from Boston in the COS, bound for
Mediterranean ports with general
cargo OF merchandise? No? Well,
YOU shall hear it as | heard it told
the other night by friend over pipe
and something else which cheers the
heart OF man. | shall tell YOU the
story as it was told to me, plain, UNI
vanished tale, the details OF which are
writ large in the records OF the Amer
lean foreign office or whatever bureau
in Washington corresponds to our own
department at home that looks after
the affairs OF other folks. This Is no
mere myth or fiction OF the sea, put
a sober tale OF fact. and when l nave
told the story nope | shall relate
it circumspectly-my readers VIII nave
presented to them as pretty puzzle
as ever was set before the mind OF
man to solve. So Tar as / know, 1t
has never been solved yet.
The Marie Celeste set sail from Bos-
ton with crew of seventeen hands,
the captain, his wife and his little
Nothing, as far as we know, occurred
on the voyage across the Atlantic
other than the routine life of trad
ing brig at sea- But one fine day the
brig came within hail of the Spanish
coast. 1t was thought she was heading
for Gibraltar on her way to enter the
great inland sea. All her sails were
Eao
calm, and a light wind bore the vessel
along. .suly the Spanish authorities
hailed the brig, without receiving any
answer to their signals. Then came
visit OF inspection, by the coast guard
| presume, and an astonishing state OF
things revealed itself.
Not soul of the twenty persons who
set sail from Boston in the brig was
found on board. Every man had dis
appeared, from the captain to the BOY,
and the captains wife and child also
were as if they had never been. The
vessel was minutely and carefully eX-
amined. There was an inspection by
the American consul; there was bust
nesslike noting of all details, and
report was duly prepared tor the au-
thorities on the other side OF the sea.
Listen to the astonishing partcu-
lars which an examination of the brig
revealed. Not rope or stay, not
sail was injured or a bolt missing,
Everything from truck to keel was in
it's proper place The briggs boats
note this fact please-were all on
board slung on their davits or slowed
on deck. Below everything was in the
same undisturbed state. The watches
of the captain and his wife hung on
nails in the cabin. In-Ine mems quar-
ters, as in the cabin-another fact to
be noted-there were the remains OF
half-eaten dinners, cooked apparently
no long time before the brig drifted
toward the Spanish coast. Below and
,aloft all was silenCe-a CHASTITY, sig
nifcant silence, appalling by reason OF
its ineXplicaDle nature, and causing the
faces of the searchers to pale before
the mysterious possibilities which Of
fered as solutions of the grim deafness
of the ship. Since the day when the
Marie CGIeSle uIlllSu Oh ucI COul &c "
the European shores not a trace of any
one of the twenty souls had been dis
covered. Needless to say strict inqui-
ries were made both in America and in
Europe concerning captain and crew.
Every sailors home was notified of
the story, in case some derelct sea
man should have come to a restful
haven therein. The names and nation
alities of the crew were known. | be-
lieve they included Americans, Danes,
Norwegians and men of other nations
in their numbers. But not a scrap OF
intelligence, not a wave-washed bottle
with a message in it, not even dead
body, ever came to light which could
suggest a solution of this horrible mys-
terry.
Suppose wet set our wits agong on
che problem of the Marie Celeste, what
explanations are possible or likely to
merit attention? Pirates and whole
sale slaughter of the crew by ordinary
murder or by walking the plank? Non
sense. Piracy was no more common in
the Atlantic in the COS than 1t is now
and pirates do not attack a ship mere
ly for the sake of numbering the crew
or without looting the vessel and sink
ing her, and piratical attack surely
would have left traces of struggle
on the deck. The pirate idea clearly
will not hold water at all.
storm which swept everybody
away? Equally untenable as theory
for storms there were none at the time
the brig drifted eastward, and storms
leave traces Of damage such as were
absent in vessel with all sails set and
not a rope or bolt missing Some cal
amity in the way of illness. you sug.
gest. Well, where were the bodies?
And If. mayhap, you maintain that the
last survivor pitched his dead friends
into the sea and then drowned himself.
you have first to find that mysterious