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With Munich a new world was born. In that Caesarean opera- tion a huge chunk of world power changed hands. I pass-
OF THE SEA
Sixty-six years ago to-day the Mary Celeste was
found.
Not a single fact has come to light since the Mary Celeste was found, on the afternoon of December 5, 1872, which would account for the mystery that, although in perfectly seaworthy condition, she was crewless, and was ploughing an erratic course on her own towards Europe. She was midway between the despite the fact that the ship's Azores and Cape Roca on the real name was Mary Celeste, the coast of Portugal, when boarded wrong name has by the Nova Scotia brig Dei obstinately
clung 80 that Gratia.
One almost feels diffident at times in using In the intervening years, the right one, however, 40 many fictitious "explanations" have been pro- duced by writers who have not even troubled to acquaint them selves with the known facts. that those facts have now he come hopelessly obscured for the average render.
To no less a person than the late Conan Doyle must we im- pute the main responsibility for starting the "mythology" about the Mary Celeste.
He based a gruesome atory on what we must assume to have been his imperfect knowledge
THE indisputable facts are these: the Mary Celeste was a brigantine of 282 tons, 98ft. long, with a 25ft. beam and a draught slightly over Her principal owner was Cap tain J. H. Winchester of the
11ft.
-By- W.F. Hartin
THE MARY CELESTE
Erratic
Captain Morehouse, in the Their superficial examination Dei Gratia, cleared New York on "above deck told them nothing November 11-that is, two days except that there appeared to be after the Mary Celeste,
No one on board, so Deveau After an uneventful voyage, signalled Captain Morchouse to without any of the storms that join him. figure so prominently in all the Not a soul could be found on "explanations," he found him- the ship, nor any reason for self half-way between the abandoning her, as she must Azores and Cape Roca on have been abandoned, in her one December 5.
small boni.
The forecastle presented the usual appearance, clothes and That afternoon his attention personal odds and ends lying THE REPORT late last night of the details and published it in firm of J. H. Winchester and haviour of a two-masted ship, left by their owners normally.
that the United States con-anuary 1884 under the title, J. Co., New York, but her captain, which he had overhauled.
was drawn by the erratic be about much as they might be Habakuk Jephson's Statement." Benjamin S. Briggs, was a third templates embarking upon a
She In the captain's cabin, Mrs. £640,000,000, naval Pitfall
owner of the ship and had an she yawed from time to time piece of cloth that might one was not on a steady course, for Briggs's sewing machine held, a building programme which will
interest in the cargo of alcohol with the changes It was only some time later which she carried on her fatal northerly breeze and ran off be- fore.
of give her an entirely new fleet that the distinguished author- voyage,
F1 light day have been a child's pina- 10 protect the Atlantic gives ship of this "explanation" was
fore the wind. emphasis to rumours that the discovered. It served at once to Genoa, where the cargo, contain that, while she was on the port nearby table, just as she might
She loaded in New York for
An oil-can, a thimble and a On closer approach, he saw reel of cotton remained on the policy of President Roosevelt and put the Mary Celeste on the pin- ed in 1,700, casks, was consigned tack, her jibs were set on the have placed them while sitting the US. Congress is changing acle of mystery from which it to a wine merchant.
starboard tack. from one of static defence to has never fallen and to broad-
at her machine. His alarm increased with the dynamic defence.
east those false premises which Last Voyage
The harmonium shipped for have been the pitfall of every
realisation that this was the this voyage had the cover of the subsequent imitator.
On November 9, 1872, she of seamanship to be displayed music in the rack.
Mary Celeste, for it was no sort key-board back and a piece of For among several errors of sailed down the Hudson River by his old friend, Captain fact, Conan Doyle made one car and carried away on their last Briggs. dinal blunder. He presumed voyage Captain Briggs, his wife, He signalled, but got no ans- ed from the democratic bloc led Celeste were found hanging in aged two, a mate, second mate, ship could detect no sign of life empty bottle of medicine and a
that the boats of the Mary and their little daughter Sophie,
wer. Glasses trained on the Some reports say that a half- by Britain to the authoritarian their davits, which would cer- cook, and four hands. bloc led by. Germany. This tainly have added the additional
as the Dei Gratia came within partly eaten breakfast were on epochal shift of power has sud-point to the mystery of how the were Germans or Americans of of her crew drew no response.
All four of the last named hailing distance, even the shouts the table, but there is no unim
penchable evidence for this. denly left the United States crew got away from the ship. German extraction. The Mari- That something seriously was
A member of the crow had standing alone and unprotected
time Register for December 18, amiss, was only too obvious, but started a letter, "Fanny, my in the world
EVERY other "explana- 1872, gives the names of all the what? game of power
tion" of note has fol- ship's company, but mentions
dear wife," and had got no fur- polities. In a word, Britain has lowed this mistake, but unfor- none of that fantastic company,
ther with it. been regarded too much in the tunately for their authors, the who claim to have survived the
I DO not think any of us. The beds were made up, all would have relished the except Sophie's, and that looked past as America's first line of facts are otherwise.
disaster and be able to explain job of Oliver Deveau, the first as if she had been sleeping there defence.....
The ship's long boat was it.
mate of the Dei Gratia and the when removed. smashed while she was loading That fundamental transfer of her cargo in New York and the Habakuk Jephson's benefit, were by Captain Morehouse to board Stili less, might I add, for Mr. two men who were ordered off some of the power from London smaller a yawl-was missing there any passengers or colour, the Mary Celeste. and Paris to Berlin necessitates when the ship was found dere- ed men on board." internal changes in U.S. affairs.
lict.
Derelict which will be so important as to in the water, indicated beyond The fall ropes, trailing astern
"Murder, plague, or what, make its present political issues shadow of doubt that the crew character, had a friend, a Cap- silence?" they must have asked with the crew were a chrono-
of religious and upright could account for this uncanny
THE only things
appeared to have gone and the partisan bickering over had attempted to, or did, get tain Morehouse, who was due to themselves again and again as meter, the ship's papers, and New Deal measures seem like away in the yawi before being sall for Europe a little later in they tossed in their little boat probably some tinned food, for trivial nursery babble. For overtaken by the disaster which the brig Dei Gratia, and they towards the derelict. world events that are far more
wiped them out.
one of the drawers of the store- powerful than President Roose-borne in mind the reader will at be calling for cargoes of fruit the other hoisted themselves
If this all-important fact is in Barcelona, where they would the men in the bont while he and open.
Deveau cautiously kept one of room had been emptied and left velt or any individual are now once be able to appreciate the on their return voyages. about to tell democracy what it voluminous literature on the
aboard by chain plates. shall have to do.
Mary Celeste in its true perspec- tive.
Germany has taught demo- cracy that static defence is Even The Name inadequate.
This point, the importance of portions of a book entitled "The It has even reached the pro- Great Mary Celeste Hoax: A
a dynamic preparedness machine
in which its author, Mr. Law- dispel much of the fiction which rence Keating, not only seeks to
has been written on the subject, but much of the fact which is beyond dispute.
as against a statie collection of Famous Sea Mystery Exposed," military and naval inventories, is the key to what is now being proposed in U.S. naval circles. What Did They Say? WHAT did Lord Shaftesbury
say in 18487
"Nothing can save the British Empire from shipwreck."
ther than the name of the ship
Indeed, one need go on fur-
to see how the fashion for dis- tortion inaugurated by Habakuk Jephson has persisted.
What did Disraeli say in call it the Marie Celeste, but He, I believe, was the first to
1849?
"In industry, commerce and agriculture there is no hope."
What did the dying Duke of Wellington say in 18527
"I thank God I shall be spared
|Britain."
He anys, "A hundred times able men have cried, "This is the end of Britain." And Britain
from secing the consummation has gone on and on--to ever of ruin that is gathering about
VA."
What did Lloyd George any last month?
"Are we going, can
any lower?"
We go,
greater strength,'
Pay no
Be confident, then. heed to the prophets of evil."
Go about your business, stok: your pleasures, in the assurance that the strength of Britain is But what does Sir Williams rock and that its resilience has triumphantly survived days Crawford say?
far darker than those passed Ho says, "Have faith in through recently.
CAPTAIN BRIGGS, a man
had fixed a tentative rendezvous
GRIN AND BEAR IT
By Lichty
Jelly-
"All my life l'oè dreamed about this moment-when my name
changes from Schnitzenwurztlich to Smith!"
A Letter
still hanging on an accustomed Captain Briggs's watch was.
hook; the ship's log remained. where it was normally kept.
that.
A cutlass showing what look- ed like bloodstains caused some commotion at the time, but it need not bother us, since the stains were subsequently found to be rust.
Spots Of Blood
The same applies to some spots of blood found on the deck. If they really were blood, no one. has ever suggested that they were more than could come from some quite superficial wound, such as a member of the crew might sustain in the ordinary: working of the ship.
Indeed, apart from the entries. in the log and on a slate, the only discoveries material to a theory of the mystery,
were
that the cover of the main hatch was off and, although the cargo was perfectly stowed, one cask appeared to have broken open or been broached,
The Mary Celeste wus of course taken by Captain More. house, as salvage, to Gibraltar, There she created a nine-days" wonder, but at the time people confidently believed that news of the captain and crow, rescued by a vessel bound for a distant port, would eventually solve the mystery.
But no news has over come→→ only a spate of ill-disguisod fiction which has added confu.. sion to facts already sufficiently astounding.