ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Vanished From the Mary Celeste: The Mysterious Disappearance of the Sailing Ship's Crew and Passengers

Updated on January 22, 2018
Cyndi10 profile image

Cynthia - a freelance writer and amateur photographer believing in the power of words, the magic of storytelling in poetry, prose or photos.

The Mary Celeste painted by an unknown author when it was first commissioned as the Amazon.
The Mary Celeste painted by an unknown author when it was first commissioned as the Amazon. | Source

Historical Facts About the Mary Celeste and Her Vanishing Crew and Passengers

The mystery of the disappearance of the crew and passengers from sailing ship, the Mary Celeste, found drifting on December 4, 1872, has not been solved over 100 years later. The facts in history point to a crew and passengers who seemed to have vanished into thin air and left a completely deserted, yet, totally intact ship behind.

The Mary Celeste was originally commissioned in 1861 as the Nova Scotian brigantine ship, the Amazon. Early history of death marked it as a cursed ship almost from the beginning. Three captains died while on board her, beginning with the captain on the maiden voyage of the Amazon.

After a troublesome beginning that was plagued with untimely deaths and wrecks, the then salvaged sailing ship was transferred to American/British ownership in 1869 and was renamed the Mary Celeste.

The newly named ship set sail from the docks of New York on November 5, 1872 bound for Italy. On board were experienced captain, Benjamin S. Briggs, his wife, their daughter and a very capable crew of seven seamen. In the cargo hold was 1,701 barrels of alcohol for use in Italian wine.

On December 4, 1872, the brigantine ship Dei Gratia spotted the Mary Celeste oddly listing, derelict, and apparently abandoned, with cargo and all the crew's possessions mostly intact.

While many theories have been proposed, from time travel and UFO's to murder and mutiny, the mystery of the disappearance of Captain Briggs, his family and his crew has never been solved. It is no wonder that vanished crew and passengers of the Mary Celeste have haunted the imaginations of writers for decades. This poem is one more lament about their strange disappearance.

Source

Vanished! The Crew of the Mary Celeste

Where are the men who trod these planks?

The lazy listing of the sailing ship, eerily silent and unyielding -

No sign of Captain Briggs, no crew;

Only a cargo of potent brew.


Was there some strange manner of death? The log is incomplete.

No signs of struggle, yet, 'twas mutiny, you say?

But wait, that won't keep the speculations at bay;

What don't we know, even to this day?


A woman on board; a child and preacher, too.

Did all succumb to a watery death, along with the doomed crew?


Where are the men who trod these planks

As their loved ones paced the shore?

Loving gazes, soft caresses and sweet whispers will be no more.


So sad was the fate of the men who trod these planks,

Bound for Italy's sunny banks.

The woman, the child and the preacher, too,

All sailed on the ill fated Mary Celeste laden with that potent brew;

That cargo made it, but, alas, where were her passengers; where was her crew?



Copyright December 1, 2013 Cynthia Turner



The Fate of the Mary Celeste

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)