Mary Celeste or Marie Celeste?

Mary Celeste or Marie Celeste?

Our seas and oceans have thrown up many strange stories over the years. But few have been as baffling as the case of the Mary Celeste. Quite why and how ten people vanished from that ship remains a mystery to this day. 

It has certainly been a subject of conjecture for many writers, including Arthur Conan Doyle. His 1884 story J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement takes a fictional look at the Mary Celeste. But more on that later - let us first look at the facts.

The Mary Celeste was a  merchant brigantine that left New York City on 7 November, 1872. Bound for Genoa in Italy, it was carrying a cargo of alcohol. On board was a crew of seven, together with Captain Benjamin Briggs. Briggs was accompanied by his wife Sarah and their infant daughter, Sophia.

Another brigantine named the Dei Gratia discovered the Mary Celeste, adrift on the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores on 4 December, 1872.

Several crew members from the Dei Gratia boarded the Mary Celeste. They noticed that the sails and rigging of the ship were in a rather poor condition. There was also some water in the hold. Yet there were no signs of violence or fire on board. In general the ship was still seaworthy. There were also plenty of provisions on board. 

So why was nobody on the Mary Celeste? Why were their personal belongings still on board, even though the lifeboat was missing? And what had caused them to abandon the ship - never to be seen again? These questions and many others are still unanswered. 

The crew of the Dei Gratia towed the Mary Celeste to Gibraltar. It was there that a salvage hearing was held in December, 1872. Theories of conspiracy to murder and insurance fraud were put forward as possible solutions to the mystery. However, nothing was proven. In the end the salvage hearing was unable to find a satisfactory explanation. 

A number of theories have since been advanced. One is that the Mary Celeste was the victim of a severe waterspout. Another holds that Captain Briggs wrongly suspected that the cargo of alcohol was about to explode. This then caused a hurried evacuation of the ship. 

Other more fanciful theories have been formulated. In 1904, a writer in Chambers’ Journal theorised that those on board had been devoured by a giant octopus or squid. Even more outlandish is the idea that they were whisked away by alien beings in flying saucers! 

Various erroneous ‘facts‘ have also been added to the Mary Celeste story. In June, 1883, The Los Angeles Times claimed that there was a fire burning in the galley of the Mary Celeste. And that there was food “standing untasted and scarcely cold“ on a table. 

A year later, Arthur Conan Doyle made his own fictional contribution to the myth. J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement was first published in The Cornhill Magazine in January, 1884. It was later published in various collections of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. Among these is The Captain of the Polestar and Other Tales (1890) (which we also have a blog post on), and Tales of Pirates and Blue Water (1922).

To be published in The Cornhill Magazine was something of a coup for Arthur Conan Doyle. Still a fledgling author, he was now published in the most influential literary magazine in London. Conan Doyle was also paid the handsome sum of twenty-nine guineas for his story. 

J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement is told in a first-person narrative. J. Habakuk Jephson is a former soldier who was wounded in the American Civil War. After the war he becomes a doctor. However, he himself begins to suffer from a serious respiratory illness. Having been advised to take a rest cure, he books a place on the Marie Celeste. The ship is bound for Portugal. 

The tale unfolds into a story of suicide, mutiny, and murder. At the heart of it is a black oval shaped stone. This was given to Jephson by an elderly black maid who tended to him after he was wounded in the war. 

Arthur Conan Doyle made a number of changes when he was writing his story. For example, he renamed the ship as the Marie Celeste. He also changed the name of the Captain to J.W. Tibbs. And the destination was altered to Boston to Lisbon.

The story proved to be popular with readers. Many of them regarded it as a true account of the fate of the Mary Celeste. Arthur Conan Doyle had left his own fictional stamp on one of the great mysteries of the sea. 

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