The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-01-23
HISTORY'S
MYST ERIES
What Occurred on Board the
Marie Celeste.

yAHEN, on November 7, 1873, the
w Yankee bark Marie Celeste
sailed from New York for Genoa, she
carried a cargo of alcohol in casks
and was manned by an able crew COM
manded by Captain B. S. Briggs, of
Marion, Mass. Mrs. Briggs and the
captains two-year-old baby were also
on board, as Captain Briggs thought
that the fall would be an excellent
time for them to cross the Atlantic
and get at least glimpse of Italy.
All the ships in the course which
the Marie Celeste undoubtedly took
reported fair weather during the en-
tire month of November but, ON De-
cember 4, the bark was sighted by the
British schooner Del Gratia not far
from Gibraltar. Puzzled by the manner
in which the American boat seemed to
be sailing-tacking here and there in
an aimless desultory fashion as if no
one held her wheel, Captain Boyce of
the Del Gratia hailed her, but re-
ceived no reply. Then, fearing that
her crew had been stricken with
scurvy or one Of the other maladies
to which sailors are subject, Captain
Boyce launched small boat and, with
out the slightest difficulty, boarded
the American bark only to find the
strangest scene that has ever been
reported on the sea
The Marie Celeste had been aban-
6opad bu oyary Evipu co,ll thpra
was not a lifeboat missing nor the
slightest trace of reason for the
sudden disappearance of the captain,
his wife and the crew!
That everyone had been aboard only
few hours before was apparent from
the fact that the fire was still lighted
in the galley. An abundance of food
and water disposed of the theory that
those on board had been driven In
sane by starvation and had leaped
overheard. The sailors chest, filed
with their clothing and containing a
considerable amount money, stood IN
the forcastle. A medicine bottle, stand
ing upright On the table In the cap
tain's cabin, was mute evidence that
the bark had not encountered heavy
weather, while, upon another table,
was Mrs. Briggs sewing and the i'm
preston of the baby's head was still
plainly to be seen on the pillow In
the crib.
Captain Boyce's first action, upon
finding this strange scene of silent
desolation, was to examine the ships
log The entries therein covered the
entire voyage of the vessel from the
time she had left New York until the
day that she was discovered, helpless
and unnamed Nowhere in the log
was there the slightest indication of
any threatened disaster-no mention
Of storm or the approach Of other
craft. The entry for the previous day
was brief but complete, while the space
for December 4, the day on which the
Marie Celeste was boarded by the
men from the Del Gratia contained
the only possible clew to the whole
affair-a clew which only added to
the mystery which surrounded the un-
fortunate ship. Here, In Captain
brlRgS uhuuNI1llls, dPpeolcu lhS
four words:
Fanny, my dear wife"
That was all. The final letter of
the word wife" ended in a sharp
scratch of the pen, as If the captain
had been interrupted while making his
entry. But what had he been going to
write? Why had words of this kind
appeared in the log which was other
wise devoted to the briefest of state
ments concerning the weather and the
progress of the bark?
One theory, advanced at the time,
was that the casks Of alcohol in the
hold had leaked and that the fumes
had rendered everyone on board the
ship insane, causing them to jump in
to the sea. But Captain Boyce's re
port, filed after his delivery of the
bark in Gibraltar, definitely stated
that the cargo had been intact.
((0 by the Wheeler Syndicatel