THE MARY CELESTE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 697, 24 June 1929, Page 13

THE MARY CELESTE

NEW THEORIES ON FAMOUS MYSTERY SHIP WERE THERE SURVIVORS? . The most famous of all sea luysterles> that of the Mary Celeste, an American brig found derelict near Gibraltar on December 4, 1872, seems at last to hare been cleared up by Mr. Laurence J. Keating, whose book on the subject is reviewed in the ‘‘Daily Mail.” For 57 years no satisfactory explanation has been forthcoming of what happened in this stsange ship or what became of the 10 persons known to have been on board her when she sailed from New York. Elaborate inquiries were held by our grand-par-ents at Gibraltar, since piracy and murder were suspected, but they never solved the riddle. Now Mr. Keating comes forward to tell the public all that took place in the ship, having obtained the most important of his facts from a survivor of the Mary Celeste’s crew, the cook Pemberton, whom he states that he has tracked down and who is still alive. Moreover he declares that seven of the persons on board long survived the discovery of the vessel in 1872. and that one of them, “Chippy” Dossell, the boatswain, was for years well known in Shrewsbury, where he sold salves and lotions, until in 1917 he died of eating British war bread. If the statements made by Mr. Keating can be verified and proved to be correct, it will be admitted that, in his_ absorbingly interesting book, he satisfactorily explains the affair, which none of the other solutions does.

The Mary Celeste, on a voyage from New York to Gibraltar, was discovered near Gibraltar by the British barquentine Dei Gratia, whose captain asserted that there was no one on board her. There were 10 persons known to have sailed in her from New York, and up to the present year none of them had been heard of, nor had nny trace been found of their bodies.

Making use of the statement given to him by the alleged survivor, Pemberton, Mr. Keating maintains that the Mary Celeste was never abandoned, and that when the Dei Gratia sighted her, there were four men on board her. All of them were quietly transferred to the Dei Gratia, and subsequently held their tongues in the hope of getting their share of salvage money.

• Curious facts brought out for the first'time by Mr. Keating are that the Dei Gratia lay close to the Mary Celeste at New York, was to meet her at the Azores, and was on the same voyage (from New York to Gibraltar). What happened in the Mary Celeste, according to Pemberton, as reported by Mr. Keating, was as follows: Of the 10 persons on board two were the captain, Briggs, and his wife, a dwarfish woman. The wife had a piano, which in a heavy gale at sea broke loose, and before it could be secured crushed her so that she died.

The captain had been “sillyish" before this event, but when liis wife was killed, he became insane and accused the mate, a huge man named Hullock and known as the “Baltimore Bully,” of murdering her. Briggs threatened to have the mate tried, and finally became so mad that near the Azores he jumped overboard. This same Hullock was savagely attacked by one of the crew, Venlioldt, “a shanghaied lubber,” and in the struggle Vendoldt was accidentally hurdled overboard and drowned. Thus, of the 10, three were dead. Off the Azores Hullock and two of the seamen deserted, afraid of being accused of mutiny and murder, of which in reality they were quite innocent. Four remained, three of whom had originally been lent to the Mary Celeste by the Del Gratia. Hullock, it should be said, lias been traced by Mr. Keating, and lived till ISS7, when he died at Curacao.

When the Dei Gratia came up with the Mary Celeste, west of Gibraltar, and took off the four survivors of the Alary Celeste's crew, she put on board a prize crew of her own. The captain of the Dei Gratia, Aloorhouse, then “pitched a tale” so as to establish a claim for salvage. The “fool’s luck” [says the author] which enabled Captain Aloorhouse to baffle his keen-witted inquisitors and to bring his great hoax to a profitable outcome invests the voyage which enriched him with a piquant interest. This shipmaster himself, though not specially acute, was canny enough to know that his own experiences might react unfavourably, if examined, upon his story of finding a derelict. The book is written in an involved, high falutin style, but it does seem at last to have solved a hitherto impenetrable mystery, and it is certain to be among the “best sellers' - ' of the year.