The Republican journal., 1913-03-20

show what might have been the trouble,
but the last entry was not without its
pathos. 1t was single line and read:
Fanny, my dear wife" Whether the
words were written merely in remem-
brance of distant loved one or in the
depths of despair will never be known.
The stern boat was gone, but other
wise every thing appeared as if the crew
were still aboard Her running rigging
was all properly made fast and the slack
coiled neatly on the decks. The COM
panionways were open, half turned
music lay on the rack of the little cabi-
net organ; the toys of the captains child
were scattered about the cabin, and in
his wife's room the impress of the
child's head was distinct on the pillow.
The captain gold watch hung beside
the cabin clock, a bit of sewing was still
in the sewing machine, in the galley the
captains dinner was left half cooked and
in the forecastle the mems chests had not
been disturbed. Yet there was no trace of
the crew and to this day nothing has
been heard of Capt. Briggs or any of the
others.
There have been numerous theories
offering a solution, but none that is con-
vincing. There was talk of pirates, but
there was no footing. There has been
talk of maniacs, but there was nothing
to show that there was maniac aboard.
There was story that the captain and
crew had put off in a boat and got lost
in fog, but there were no fogs. The
most plausible explanation was that of
one of the owners that the alcohol es-
capped from the casks and generated
gas which exploded, frightening Briggs
and his men into abandoning the ship.
I Even that explanation is purely matter
of guesswork, and the riddle of the
Marie Celeste remains unsolved.
From Newfoundland bound for Labra-
dor sailed the brig Resolven in August,
1884. Three days later she was picked
up by the British warship Mallard with
not soul on board. Her sails We're set,
her sidelights burning and there was still
fire in her galley stove.
Fore and aft all was in order, nothing
had been removed and IN the locker was
bag of gold. There was not single
indication of why her captain and crew
OF 10 men had deserted her, nor is there
any record of what became of them.
Another yarn of the eighties not
We'll vouched for is that which the Ellen
Austin brought into New York in 1881
The crew of the Austin related that
while homeward bound in the mid A t.
lantlc they ran across a vessel tacking
this way and that with no one III con-
troll.
A crew was put aboard to take the
wanderer to New York, but in a stiff
blow which followed the two ships part
ed company. Some days later the Gere
iict was sighted again, but to the amaze
ment of the Austin S men the second
crew had departed like the first and the
ship was still sailing on her ghostly way.
The more recent case Of the British
bark lnvtrnesshlre created wide com
ment in 1910 In March of that year
she began her voyage from Hamburg to
Santa Rosalia, Cal, and in the following
June she was found by the Italian
steamer Verina, anchored little west
OF the Falkland Islands
A thorough search of the ship showed
her to be in perfect order but the only
living creatures left were a family of
cats. On the mess room table was a
scattered pack of cards, on the stove in
the galley was pot of ''slush." the
sailors beef stew, and in the capita .
cabin lay copy of Coleridge opened
face down at ''The Ancient Mariner )"
The sails were furled and the deck Snip
shape.
One of those understandable panics
which have to do with the luck of ship
was the reason finally assigned for her
abandonment. The crew of some 80
men were said to have ''funked" and re-
fused to obey their officers The Ivernes-
shire was towed into Port Stanley sound
in hui and cargo.
THE BUTEsHIRE CASE.
Somewhat similar is the story of the
bark Buteshire which was sighted drift
ing aimlessly about the Bay of Biscay in
March, 1911. She had left Pisagua,
Chill, and had arrived in the English
channel when she was seen, with all sails
set, swinging easily before the wind
without soul on board. She had been
careering toward England and then back
toward Spain. She was picked up final
ly by the steamer Raphael. Her cap
tain and crew had deserted her and turn
ed up afterwards in Lisbon with no valid
reason to offer.
Some years ago the Australian bark
Alexandra furnished the elements of a
mystery which was later solved. She
sailed the Pacific for some months under
short canvas and with no crew aboard.
At last she put in at little cove in the
Albermarle islands and the fishermen
who came alongside were astonished to
find that she had no crew. The food had
been all taken and the medicine chest
rif1ed and everything pointed to syste-
matte abandonment.
Months later the facts came to light
when an exhausted party of sailors made
their way to Valparaiso. The bark had
met with extraordinary headwinds after
leaving Australia and had been driven
continually out of her course. For a
time her lack of progress was one of the
trying features of sailors life, but
later it became really disastrous. The
food and water began to give out and
there was nothing to do but to leave the
old tub to her own devices. The captain
and crew left her in two boats with all
the stores available and started to find
the coast of South America. One boat
arrived, but the other has never been
| heard from.
THE PERILS OF THE DERELICT.
! Across the trackless deeps there are
scattered scores of other spectre ships
quite different from those of the Mary
Celeste type. Every master knows
them and fears them as one of the
greatest of sea perils. These are the
derelict hulks of vessels shattered by
storm and wave. the crews of which have
long since gone to death.