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ABCRadioNational
Preview: A Thoroughly Wet Mess, the story of the Mary Celeste

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ALCOHOL EXPLOSION

Perhaps the most convincing theory relates to the ship's cargo of industrial alcohol. Whether due to turbulence or porous barrels, noxious alcoholic fumes may have escaped, either causing a small explosion or making the crew think an explosion was imminent. Briggs may have then given the order to temporarily abandon ship, with everyone piling into the lifeboat to sail behind the Mary Celeste until the danger had passed. The rope attaching the boat to the ship may have then come undone, leaving them to bob uselessly as the empty Mary Celeste sailed away, abandoning them to the awful immensity of the sea.

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 NATURAL DISASTERCould the sea itself have been behind the mystery? One possibility is that the Mary Celeste fell foul of a waterspout, which is basically a tornado at sea, or perhaps a sudden violent seaquake. Either of which may have caused superficial damage and some waterlogging, perhaps making the crew think the ship was about to sink, leading them to make the fatal mistake of clambering onto the lifeboat.

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 NATURAL DISASTERCould the sea itself have been behind the mystery? One possibility is that the Mary Celeste fell foul of a waterspout, which is basically a tornado at sea, or perhaps a sudden violent seaquake. Either of which may have caused superficial damage and some waterlogging, perhaps making the crew think the ship was about to sink, leading them to make the fatal mistake of clambering onto the lifeboat.

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CRIMINAL CONSPIRACYA Could North African pirates have attacked the ship and killed the crew? Perhaps, but the ship hadn't been looted. How about the crew of the Dei Gratia, the ship which had actually discovered the empty Mary Celeste - perhaps THEY had in reality attacked the Mary Celeste and then pretended to have found her adrift so they could gain money from the salvage? Even more outlandish is the idea that it was an inside job, with Captain Briggs and his family faking their deaths to claim the salvage money.

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CRIMINAL CONSPIRACYA Could North African pirates have attacked the ship and killed the crew? Perhaps, but the ship hadn't been looted. How about the crew of the Dei Gratia, the ship which had actually discovered the empty Mary Celeste - perhaps THEY had in reality attacked the Mary Celeste and then pretended to have found her adrift so they could gain money from the salvage? Even more outlandish is the idea that it was an inside job, with Captain Briggs and his family faking their deaths to claim the salvage money.

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CRAZED MUTINY Initial checks of the ship found strange marks that may have been caused by an axe, along with traces of what seemed to be blood. The attorney-general inquired that members of the crew had got violently drunk on the ship's cargo of alcohol, and then killing everyone else on board before departing on the ship's sole lifeboat. Except it was later revealed the blood stains weren't blood stains, the marks were due to natural wear and tear, and the alcohol was industrial-grade stuff that wasn't fit for drinking. Plus, why on earth would the homicidal sailors then depart the ship to face certain doom on a small lifeboat?

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CRAZED MUTINY Initial checks of the ship found strange marks that may have been caused by an axe, along with traces of what seemed to be blood. The attorney-general inquired that members of the crew had got violently drunk on the ship's cargo of alcohol, and then killing everyone else on board before departing on the ship's sole lifeboat. Except it was later revealed the blood stains weren't blood stains, the marks were due to natural wear and tear, and the alcohol was industrial-grade stuff that wasn't fit for drinking. Plus, why on earth would the homicidal sailors then depart the ship to face certain doom on a small lifeboat?

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Mary Celeste had a shadowy past. Theory didn't know what to think. Some thought of murder and some thought of sea dragons.

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Theory had it the captain was high on alcohol and he panicked and screamed to his crew to Abandon ship!

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https://youtu.be/bTb54_gLd5Q

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Was Mary Celeste a ghost?

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The ship began its fateful voyage on November 7, 1872, sailing with seven crewmen and Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife, Sarah, and the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Sophia. The 282-ton brigantine battled heavy weather for two weeks to reach the Azores, where the ship log's last entry was recorded at 5 a.m. on November 25.
About five days after that the Mary Celeste had been found adrift with not a crew man on sight what happened to the people on the Mary Celeste?

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Mary Celeste was an American merchant brigantine, discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands, on December 5, 1872.

Launched: 18 May 1861

Length: 30 m

Beam: 6.9 m

Sail plan: Brigantine

Decks: 1, as built, 2 after rebuild

Builder: New York