trailblazer
02-04-2004, 08:30 AM
So what today remains the best explanation for the mysterious abandonment of the Mary Celeste? Does anybody have a better explanation than the one I got below.
In my opinion I think Captain Benjamin Briggs realized that the ship's cargo area could blow up when the hatch was opened and there were powerful alcoholic fumes from barrels of alcohols that had leaked during a previous violent storm. Alcoholic fumes were notoriously known back in those days (1872) to spark explosions in ship cargoes.
So I think he ordered his crew, wife & baby daughter to take to the lifeboats and tie a lifeline to the Mary Celeste ship and trail the ship and let the fumes vent itself out. But what I think happened was that a strong gust of wind must have caused the ship to lurch forward and snapped the lifeline to the lifeboat (which had the crew & captain). The ship than just sailed on without them. They were unable to row fast enough to catch up with the ship and thus were stranded at sea where I believed they all perished.
That's why when the ship was found everything on board was untouched including valuables. It looked like the crew had just mysteriously abandoned the ship.
When another ship found the Mary Celeste days later, they found no one on board. The found a rope trailing off the stern (back) of the ship which was the first strong evidence. The cargo hold had 9 large empty barrels (That was alot of alcohol spilt) of pure alcohol.
This I believe is the best explanation for the msytery of the Mary Celeste.
In my opinion I think Captain Benjamin Briggs realized that the ship's cargo area could blow up when the hatch was opened and there were powerful alcoholic fumes from barrels of alcohols that had leaked during a previous violent storm. Alcoholic fumes were notoriously known back in those days (1872) to spark explosions in ship cargoes.
So I think he ordered his crew, wife & baby daughter to take to the lifeboats and tie a lifeline to the Mary Celeste ship and trail the ship and let the fumes vent itself out. But what I think happened was that a strong gust of wind must have caused the ship to lurch forward and snapped the lifeline to the lifeboat (which had the crew & captain). The ship than just sailed on without them. They were unable to row fast enough to catch up with the ship and thus were stranded at sea where I believed they all perished.
That's why when the ship was found everything on board was untouched including valuables. It looked like the crew had just mysteriously abandoned the ship.
When another ship found the Mary Celeste days later, they found no one on board. The found a rope trailing off the stern (back) of the ship which was the first strong evidence. The cargo hold had 9 large empty barrels (That was alot of alcohol spilt) of pure alcohol.
This I believe is the best explanation for the msytery of the Mary Celeste.