December 4th - Mary Celeste Found

On this day, in 1872, the American sailing ship, Mary Celeste, was found by a British vessel. The ship had no crew and was only slightly damaged. Were the crew the victims of a conga line gone horribly wrong, or was it something much less fun but much more gruesome?

The ship had been sailing for a month and was found in good weather. The crew's personal possessions were still on board and it was under full sail heading towards the Straits of Gibraltar. The crew must have known about Gibraltar's refusal to allow duty-free sales. They would rather perish at sea than pay full, retail prices.

Many theories have been proposed to explain the crew's mysterious disappearance but the duty-free evasion theory is the best.

Some say undersea earthquakes, aka seaquakes, were to blame. The sea rumbled and the crew were shaken from the lower levels of the ship just like coins from a piggy bank. This theory is laughable. I know this because I'm laughing.

A waterspout was also blamed. Its name was Jeffery and it may have been trying to save the crew from the unfair application of duty taxes. This theory is also laughable because all developed nations have duty applied and it would be unreasonable to expect them to be lifted.

Even more fanciful explanations exist like aliens or ghosts, BOO! This seems unlikely because if aliens or ghosts did visit Gibraltar they would not be charged duty anyway. There would be more at stake than that.

Before the voyage the Captain wrote a letter that was generally optimistic but somewhat foreboding.

We seem to have a very good mate and steward and I hope I shall have a pleasant voyage. I certainly hope that no type of waterspout, alien, or unfair duty shall be applied to us. Oh the torment!

When the British ship happened upon the Mary Celeste the crew immediately thought something was suspicious. They launched a boarding party, which returned quite shaken. They reported the ship was entirely seaworthy yet the single life-raft was missing along with the ship's papers and the um...er....uh...sextant.

An investigation was held to determine what happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste. The findings were inconclusive.

For the next thirteen years the ship changed hands seventeen times. Many owners took issue with the crew disappearing even though it was sold as a "feature". The last owner tried to sink and burn the ship to make a fraudulent insurance claim. His plan was discovered and he was thrown in jail for fraud and refusal to pay duty.

No one knows for sure what happened to the Mary Celeste and her crew. Perhaps it was some sort of sea-elephant.