The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1905-07-20
AN OCEAN mysrMv.
The Fate Of the Mary Celeste Has fse
Thirty Yesrs Excited ths m
tersst Of oNNuUA

of the sea, for the waves keep their ~
crets. Among the many nautical mys-
teries which have been the talk of sea-
faring folk that of the Mary Celeste has
for 30 years taken the lead. All sorts
of explanations have been attempted,
and the incidents have been used as the
basis of well-known sea novel, yet no
satisfactory solution has been offered.
A writer in the New York Evening Post
has recently summed up the facts Of the
case, and strange ones they are. The
Mary Celeste was unlucky from the frst-
She was launched in 1869. Bad for
tune attended her very start in the
world. for being built Of green timber,
she stuck on the ways, and was fioated
only at great expense. Her voyages
were Improbable. and after few years
her captain. discouraged By continual
loss, took his life.
On December 4, 1878, the Mary Celeste,
bound for Genoa, was found by the Brit
ish vessel Del Gratia about midway be-
tween the Azores and Lisbon. adrift and
abandoned. She was running under sail.
her long boat was gone, and the chro-
nometer aud ships papers were missing.
II was evident she had been deserted In
haste. BY the log book II was judged
she had been cruising without crew
for eight or nine days.
The vessel was searched carefully,
but the mystery only deepened. A
naked, dark-stained cutlas which was
found on the cabin AOor for time
caused suspicion Of mutiny, but q later
examination showed the stains to be
only rust. There we're no traces OF
strife. On the cabin table lay cloth,
needle, scissors and thimbls--evidences
of a woman suddenly interrupted Sow
ing The pumps were dry. the cargo m
tact, and nothing wrong with the spass
or rigging. 3.
The brig vas tAken to Gibraltar a1d
Investigations begun. There was an At
tempt to prove that the captain intended
TO lose his ship on one Of therSefS or the
Azores. but the. case fell through, Oh
vious objections to this theory were tie
captains wife and child on board and
the risking Of sll lives in the long boat,
so far away from land.
The most plausible solution 10 oRered
by the writer in the Post He believes
that the hey 10 to be found In the natars
Of the cargo. in the quality Of wood In
which It was cssed, and the position Of
the fore hatch.
When the Mary Csjeste was boarded,
her sails gave evidences that she was
abandoned while running before .
strong breeze. cad bad been rounded -
In order to launch the life boat. Her
fore hatch was lying bottom side up on
| the deck Her cargo was alcohol stored
In red OAK barrels. Red oak 10 very por-
ous. and permits the Escape Of fumes
under the pressure Of high tsmperStuFe.
These alcoholic fumes mixing with the
foul air Of the hold may have generated
gas which blew on the fore hatch. VOL
! pmes Of yapor pouring out would have
caused the captain to believe the ship
was on fire. Accordingly he lost no time
in taking to the boat, intending TO be out
at a safe distance. There Was no dre,
but the vessel, caught by the wind,
sprang away, and left the long boat to
make a tantalizing and hopeless stern
chase, and finally, no doubt, to sink be-
meath the waves. No one will ever
know, but this is what may have hap
pened,
The later adventures of the Msry
Celeste were quite in keeping with hei
ill-starred early promise. She was sold
for debt, and proved bad bargain
Then she was wrecked of Hayti, and hel
officers were arrested for intentional de
struction of the brig. The case in barvN
try was dropped. but the suspicion still
fingers that the owners and the captsis
had an understanding that the v>sss
should never reach port.