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Indeed this remains a mystery but, like so many contemporary and later accounts, much of what that Pittsburgh Press 1934 article says to compound the mystery is completely untrue. It draws on exaggeration for the purposes of sensationalism, second-hand reporting of unverified information and fictional stories. Just to point out some howlers:
The ship was most certainly not “looking like a band-box” when found. Mary Celeste’s sails were in poor condition with not only some of them unset, but missing altogether. Much of the rigging was damaged and there were ropes strewn all over the deck, with some hanging loosely over the side.
The ship’s boat was not still on board, “hanging in the davits”. Mary Celeste carried only a small yawl to act as a lifeboat which had been stowed across the main hatch. It was missing and has never been found.
The story of a breakfast cooked but not eaten on the stove is a complete myth, as is the account of a breakfast half-eaten in the main cabin. Pure invention. There was no food prepared or under preparation.
There is no mystery about the children’s toys or the fine women’s clothes. It’s well documented that Captain Briggs had made arrangements for his wife and daughter to accompany him on this trip.
The story about the last log entry being “My wife…” as an unfinished sentence by Briggs is also a complete fabrication. There was no such entry. The final log entry was a mundane report of the ship’s position on November 25th and the log was found in the mate’s cabin.
There was no bloodstained sword and no bloodstained railing. Within a couple of weeks of the ship’s recovery, examination of samples under a microscope revealed that neither of the reddish stains were blood. The stains on the sword were established to be iron citrate, probably as a result of the blade having been cleaned using a lemon.
It’s also worth mentioning that one of the ship’s bilge pumps had been dismantled and there was three and a half feet of water in the hold. Although that wouldn’t have put a ship of this size in danger, it’s likely Briggs was concerned. A makeshift sounding rod for checking the depth of water in the hold was found abandoned on the deck and the hold was so tightly packed with cargo that it would have been nigh on impossible to use it in any meaningful way to assess whether the ship was taking on water at a dangerous rate.
It’s also worth mentioning that ‘Mary Celeste’ is an anagram of ‘met scary eel’. Coincidence? I think not.
Interesting - got a source?