Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-03-20
A RIDDLE OF THE SEA
SOLVE THE WEIRD, UNcANNY PUZZLE
IF you ARE ABLE.
The Dark, Deep Mystery Of the Br;-
Marie Celeste, which Sailed From
Boston For Mediterranean Fort. In
the SIXTIES.

| the sixties.
Did you ever hear tho story Of ths
| Marie Celeste, a brig which sailed from
| Boston in the sixties, bound for Mediter-
| ranean ports with n general cargo OF
| merchandise? Mop Well, shall tell you
the story as 1t wns told to me. a plain. IN.
| vanished tale, the details OF which are
writ large in the records OF the American
| foreign office or whatever bureau in
Washington corresponds to our own de.
partment at home that looks after the az.
fairs Of other folks. This is no mere
myth or fiction Of the sea hut a sober
tale OF fact and when have told the
story-I hope | shall relate it circum-
spectly-my readers will have presented
to them as pretty puzzle as ever was
- before the mind of man 70 solve.
The Marie Celeste set sail from Boston
with a crew OF seventeen hands, the cap.
tain, his wife and his little daughter,
twenty souls all told. Nothing as far as
we know occurred on the voyage across
the Atlantic other than the routine life Of
trading 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 set
The weather was fine, the sea calm, and
light wind bore the vessel along. Duly
the Spanish authorities hailed tho brig
without receiving any answer to their sig
mails. Then came visit Of inspection by
the coast guard, | presume, and an as
tonishing state Of things revealed itself
Not n soul Of the twenty persons who
set sail from Boston in tho brig was
found on board. Every man had disap-
peared. from the captain to the boy, and
the captains wife and child also were a.
if they had never been seen. The vessel
was minutely and carefully examined.
There was an inspection by the Ameri-
can consul. There was a businesAike
noting OF oil details, and a report was
duly prepared for the authorities on the
other side of the sea.
Listen to the astonishing particulars
which an examination of the brig reveal
ed: Not rope or stay. not a sail, was in
iured or 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 mills In the cabin. In the mems
| quarters. as in the cabn-another fact to
| be Ioted-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
! sience--a CHASTITY, significant silence, APP
palling by reason of its inexplicable ma
ture and causing the faces of the search
ers 20 pale before the mysterious posi-
bilities which offered as solutions OF the
| grim deadness of the ship.
Since the day when the Marie Celeste
drifted on her course to the European
shores not trace of any one Of the TWEEN
ty souls had been discovered. Needless
70 say. strict inquiries were made both in
America and in Europe concerning cap
tain and crew. Every sailors home was
notified of the story. in case some derelict
seaman should have come to restful
| haven therein. I believe 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 a dead body, ever came to light
| which could suggest a solution OF this
horrible mystery.
Suppose we set our wits a-Coing on
the problem of the Marie Celeste what
explanations are possible or likely n
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 sixties than it is now,
and pirates do not attack a ship merely
for the sake OF numbering the crew or
without lootug the vessel.
! storm which swept everybody awayt
Equally untenable as theory, for storms
| there was none AT the time the brig
drifted eastward. and storms leave traces
OF damage such rs were absent in q yes
| sci with all sails set and not a rope or
bolt missing.
! Don't forget the half eaten dinners, for
that fact proves that within short dis
lance of the land the crew was practi-
cally at rest, undisturbed by any omen
of approaching calamity, and no disease
! know of save perhaps cholera OF ma
| lgnant type can kill people in n few
hours. Besides, you must have infection.
and whence did the pestilent microbes
| come to the brig? Sudden insanity on
the part OF one OF the crew. leading to
homicdal Staying Of the others? Well. il
you elect to believe that theory you may.
! don't, for the plain reason that seven
teen men could surely have overpowered
one. The insanity idea will not work.
Have | any suggestion to make? I
have. though ] offer il in all modesty,
seeing that il my information is correct
American scientists were consulted re-
garding the possibilities OF catastrophes
arising from the denizens OF the sea
themselves and rejected the idea. But
we know more about certain sea mon
sters in this year of grace than they did
in the sixties and my explanation OF the
mystery Of the Marie Celeste is that
which attributed the disappearance OF the
crew to the attack of huge octopus or
devil6sh, or OF some other member OF the
cuttlefsh group. Let me picture what
may have happened. There is a man at
the wheel. All the others are below at
mess
a huge octopus rises from the deep and
with wave OF its sucker studded arms
epcircles the steersman. He yells for
help. Everybody rushes on deck. Then
up sweep the other arms OF the monster
| and one by one or en- masse the whole are
| included in the tenacious grasp OF the sea
devil They are swept over the side and
perish. There Is no damage done to the
| vessel. and the octopus leaves no traces
Of its attack, as it sinks itself, a loath-
some mass OF flesh and muscle into the
ocean abyss. II we find squids, which
are cousins Of the octopus. forty and fifty
feet long. IL octopi abound in southern
seas with bodies as big as watts and arms
| in lanuth-thnea