S04 Episode 6: The Silence of the Sea (RERUN)

of the Azores. The fate of the vessel and its crew has since become known as perhaps the greatest maritime mystery of all time. The ship's name Mary Celeste. This is unexplained, Season four, episode six, The Silence of the Sea. It was some time in the eighteen fifties when Joshua Jewis, a young aspiring shipbuilder, made his way from the small coastal village of Economy on Nova Scotia down to the shores of West Advocate, searching for a small tract of

land to begin a shipbuilding business. He came across the sheltered, pine covered cove of Spencer's Island and knew immediately he had found the right place. Having succeeded in convincing a few relatives as well as two local merchants to join him in his venture. He purchased a thousand acres close to the shoreline and promptly got to work. Over the next year, trees were felled and land cleared away, and before long a boat yard had sprung up, pulling down

the surrounding Birch Beach and the maple. Jewis's team worked day and night, chopping, hammering, and planing as piece by peace, the hull of a vessel began to take shape. By the fall of eighteen sixty, the hull was complete, turning then to the local spruce and pine. They continued crafting away with chisel and lathe, making masts and cabins, until

finally the ship was finished. By spring the following year, the vessel, a brigantine formed of two masts and measuring one hundred foot long by twenty five feet wide, was ready to launch. The company's very first ship, and its name was Amazon. The purpose of vessels like Amazon was to generate money for their owners. As cargo ships transporting goods from one place to another. Generally, the further the trip and the more precious the cargo, the more money

could be made. Amazon's maiden trip was to be a relatively simple one, carrying a load of plaster down the coast to New York. On May eighteenth, eighteen sixty one, the ship took to the seas for the first time, captained by Robert McClellan, a young but well regarded captain who had just recently married. After making a short hop to Windsor on an opposite coast of Nova Scotia, Amazon was successfully loaded before returning to the seas and continuing

on its way toward the United States. However, after barely one hundred miles, captain McClellan became suddenly unwell, suffering from a suspected bout of pneumonia. The captain was forced to order the ship back to Spencer's Island, where he promptly disembarked. A few days later, he died. The maiden voyage was eventually completed a few weeks after, but on returning Amazon

inexplicably collided with another vessel, which was instantly sunk. As a result, For one of the most superstitious industries of the time, the omens could not have been much worse. For the next six years, However, Amazon made a number of successful trips, delivering cargo to as far away as the West Indies and even France. In eighteen sixty seven, the vessel's owners grew concerned about the capabilities of its then captain, William Thompson, and made the decision to have

him replaced. On hearing of their plan, Thompson stole the ship and deliberately ran it aground in Nova Scotia's Cowbay, destroying it for any immediate use, and so there the ship was abandoned and left for dead by its owners. As Joshua Jwis's son would lay note, it was as if the craft seemed possessed of the devil to begin with. The following year, having heard about the abandoned vessel, a small consortium of American shipowners, realizing it still had potential,

decided to take it on. In order to do so, they were required to have its registration changed from Canada to the United States, which also necessitated a change of name, and so on December thirty one, eighteen sixty eight, the ship was formally registered again and duly renamed, to be known from then on as Mary Celeste. You're listening to

unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. By October eighteen seventy two, Mary Celeste was owned by four individuals, with the largest stake belonging to James Winchester, second to which was that belonging to its new captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs. Briggs was fairly young for the role at thirty seven, but was a highly respected and skilled sailor, said by some to be of the highest character for seamanship and correctness. Briggs was an archetypal sea captain of the time, engineered from

an early age for a life on the waves. Benjamin was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, in eighteen thirty five to Sophia Cobb and her husband, Captain Nathan Briggs. Together they had seven children in total, including five sons, only one of which didn't enter into the life of a mariner. Life of the Briggs family could be difficult at times, especially for Sophia, who would regularly be left alone with the children as her husband went off to see, unsure

when or if he would ever return. When Benjamin was four, a series of failed investments by his father left the family homeless, forcing them to move in temporarily with Benjamin's grandfather. It was in these formative years that the young boy grew especially close to his mother, as they bonded in

the periodic absences of his father. Nathan. Briggs's love for his family, however, was never in doubt, and when he did return, evenings would often be spent in a fantasy world of tales of distant lands and adventures on the high seas. As he talked, Benjamin and the others would sit wide eyed in awe at this burly, enigmatic man before them. With the family's fortunes restored, a few years later, the Briggs moved to Sippican Village, just outside the coastal

town of Marion in Massachusetts. Twas here that Benjamin's love

for the open water truly began to manifest. Marian was very much a sailing town, with most of the local industry revolving around the sea, and where from day and night the local homes and watering holes would ring with tales of exotic places, shipwrecks, and daring do As a young teenager, Benjamin would watch with jealousy as his father occasion to take his oldest child, Nathan, out on journeys with him in the meantime, he could only dream, staring

out from the shoreline in wonder at what grand worlds and adventures might lie beyond. But soon Benjamin too was joining his father on short trips, being treated like any other mate on board, as he was taught to work hard and respect all those in the crew, no matter what their rank, but most of all to respect the often unforgiving ocean upon which they sailed. If Benjamin needed any reminding of just how dangerous the life of a mariner could be in those days, evidence was not in

short supply. By eighteen seventy, two brothers and his sister, Maria, who was married to a sailor, had been lost at sea. Then in June of that year, the family were left further devastated when Benjamin's father was struck by lightning while standing in a doorway. He was killed instantly. The litany of loss was hardest of all for Benjamin's mother, Sophia,

who had little option but to endure it. And yet, despite the many tragedies that had already befallen her, she determined to remain optimistic whenever her two remaining sons of the sea left on another voyage. Praying would only be a matter of time before they came back. By then, Benjamin had married, having met and fallen in love with

Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, a skilled musician and seamstress. Having married in eighteen sixty two, Sarah gave birth to their first child, Arthur, three years later, and in October of eighteen seventy they welcomed their second Sophia, named after Benjamin's mother, of whom he was so fond. Perhaps it was all those anxious nights spent as a child waiting for his father to return and watching his mother going through the same that

convinced Benjamin not to travel alone either way. From early on in his career he often made the effort to take his family with him on his voyages. He and Sarah had even sailed together to the Mediterranean for their honeymoon, and so it was to be with his upcoming journey on Mary Celeste. Having been appointed captain in eighteen seventy two, Briggs wasted no time in having the ship refitted with a larger cabin to accommodate his wife and daughter, Sophia.

On this occasion. With their son Arthur, now seven and attending school, they elected to leave him behind with his grandmother to continue his studies. On October nineteen, Benjamin Briggs left home and set sail for New York, arriving soon after at Peer fifty on the East River, where Mary Celeste was now moored. Over the next few days, he studiously supervised the loading of the vessel and took time to reacquaint himself with the seven man crew he had

selected to join him on the journey. This would be one of the longest trips Mary's Celeste had made, delivering a cargo of one thousand, seven hundred one barrels of denatured alcohol to Genoa, where it would then take on a load of fruit to be delivered back to the United States. Of the men accompanying him. First mate, twenty eight year old Albert Richardson, was well known and respected

by the captain, having sailed with him before. Second mate Andrew Gilling, at only twenty five, was young but also considered a safe pair of hands. Stewart and cook Edward Head, who hailed from nearby Green Point in Brooklyn, was at twenty three, one of the youngest members of the team and had only recently been married. The other four were a small team from Germany who had often sailed together,

including two brothers, Volkirt and boz Lawrenson. On Saturday October twenty sixth Sarah and Sophia took a ship bound for New York and arrived the following morning. That day, Captain Briggs took a horse and cab through the sprawling kleindutsch Land of Manhattan Island's lower east side across to the North River pier, and there he stood watch with a warm smile at the sight of Sarah and Sophia waving

to him from the deck of their approaching ship. After helping them unload, he led them to the ship that would become their home for the next few months. A few days later, Sarah took receipt of her much beloved Melodeon, with which she hoped to entertain her husband and daughter on their trip, installing it in the captain's quarters. Unfortunately, due to an outbreak of horse disease, the family were

confined to the immediate vicinity of Peer fifty. On the thirty first, however, Benjamin and Sarah were met by his aunt and uncle, and together they were able to afford a cab ride up to Central Park. Where they were spend the day joyfully celebrating Sophia's second birthday. With the day of disembarkation approaching, Benjamin took the opportunity to write

a letter to his mother. In it, he expressed his joy at Sarah and Sophia's arrival and how homely they had made the ship feel, but also his regret at having decided not to bring their son Arthur with them after all. He also made note of how Sophia was disappointed that they hadn't yet included a picture of Arthur in the family photo album which they had taken with them for their journey, since it was the young girl's

favorite book. Briggs had been hoping to say a final farewell to his brother Oliver, who was due to arrive in New York imminently, but having waited as long as he could. On Tuesday, November fifth, the Brigantine married Celeste pulled away from Pier fifty and meandered its way down the East River, moving on past the growing towers of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, which was under construction at the time. It continued on beyond Governor's Island and

out into the Upper Bay. They were not long out of the East River when a thick and nasty storm drew in and was soon beating and banging at the ship. Concerned by its increasing ferocity, Briggs was forced to take emergency action and ordered the crew to find shelter close to Staten Island, where they promptly dropped anchor. Over the next few days, the ship's passengers had no choice but to sit and wait it out. Sarah did her best to keep Sofia occupied as Captain Briggs and the crew

went over their various charts again in preparation. At one point, Sarah wrote another the letter to Benjamin's mother, as Sofia played on the floor with her alphabet bricks. It was hard, she wrote, being so close to the shore, knowing that they probably had letters there from their loved ones waiting to be read that they were unable to receive. She signed off, sending her love to Arthur and the rest of the family, before having the letter delivered to shore

by one of the crew. By the morning of November seven, the storm had finally settled and Briggs gave the order to haul up the anchor. A short time later, Mary Celeste and her crew were edging out between the tip of Sandy Hook and the Rockaway Peninsula and onwards toward the deep Atlantic Ocean. Eight days after Mary Celeste left New York, the ship named De Gracier, captained by David Moorhouse and laden with a cargo of petroleum, bound for Gibraltar,

also set sail from the city. Three weeks later, on December the fourth, the ship was roughly two thirds of the way into its journey as it continued on in a southeasterly direction, four hundred miles east of the Azores. After days of sailing through torrential storms and vast crashing waves, the sea and the air had grown calm again. It was sometime just after midday when the ship's pilot, John Johnson, spotted a vessel about six miles off to their port side.

Concerned by the manner of its movement, Johnson alerted the captain, who in turn grabbed his telescope to take a closer look. Though they were still some way off, he could see clearly that the ship was completely adrift, with no sign of the crew anywhere. Morehouse ordered Johnson to head toward the aimless vessel and shouted out to his first mate Oliver de Vaux, who was resting below, to join him on deck, handing the telescope to Devo, the first mate

took a look for himself. He noticed first that some of the ship's sails were damaged or missing entirely, and then, having by now drawn close enough to see it, he registered the vessel's name Marry Celeste. The crew of Day Gracia attempted to signal it, but they received no reply. It is hard to comprehend the sheer eeriness of approaching a ghost ship listing gently on the open water with no sign of land anywhere, and there were doubtless a few nervous glances shared by the crew of the De

Gracier as they approached the seemingly vacant vessel. After getting close enough to board it, Moorhouse ordered de Vaux to take two men across to investigate. Minutes later, Devaux, along with Johnson and second mate John Wright, took to the ship's lifeboat before being lowered into the water. As the men rode their way across, only the sound of the oars splashing in the water and the creaking of the two ships could be heard as they contemplated what they

might find. On board. Having made it to marry Celeste, de Vaux called out a final time to no reply, before taking a deep breath and pulling himself onto the deck. He was followed soon after by Right, and together the two of them began their search. Devo Zh noted first that two of the foresails had blown away completely, while another was left hanging by its corners. The mainsail had

fallen or been pulled down onto the deck. Also left on deck was the ship's sounding rot, which was used to test for flooding below, perhaps a clue as to why the vessel had been abandoned. De Vaux picked it up and dropped it down one of the pumps, bringing it up a moment later. He was surprised to find that although there was some flood water, at only three and a half feet deep, it wouldn't have been any cause for concern. The pumps, too, were in perfect working order.

Second mate Right, meanwhile had established that the ship had only been equipped with one lifeboat, which was now missing, so two was the leading sail rope, perhaps having been used to tie the lifeboat to the main ship at some point. Looking up, de Vaux noticed also that the ship's binnacle, a wooden pillar that housed navigational equipment had

been knocked over and its compass smashed. In silence, the men proceeded together into the main cabin, finding no sign of a chronometer or a sextant, presumably having been taken by the crew or whoever else had been there. The captain's navigation book had also gone. In the kitchen area and pantry, they found no sign of anything having been

eaten recently. But in the storeroom they were amazed to discover at least six months worth of provisions left untouched, and more than enough drinking water for a crew on They continued now into the captain's quarters. Here they found the skylight had been left open, which may have accounted for why almost everything in the room was soaking wet. Strangely, all of it had been seemingly left as if its

previous inhabitants had just completely vanished. On the spot. There were boxes full of clothing presumably belonging to the captain and what they assumed to be his family. Various pieces of furniture were all left in place, including a melodion and a sewing machine. De Vaux also noticed a small impression in the bed, as if a young child had only very recently been lying there. Then he noticed the baby's toys scattered about the room, strewn over the bed.

They also found a series of loose charts and books, as well as the log book and slate lock, a record of the ship's most recent location. It was dated November twenty fifth, from almost two weeks before, stating the ship's position as having been just to the north of the island of Saint Maria in the Azores, roughly four hundred miles away. Below deck, having found no sign of any other crew, they also discovered the hundreds of barrels

full of alcohol that had been left completely untouched. Making their way back onto the deck, Right and Devout stood for a moment in quiet contemplation, neither able to quite shake the feeling that whatever had happened, something very peculiar had taken place, or so, at least that was the story they gave to the Vice Admiralty Court in Gibraltar

two weeks later. Having discovered the ghost ship Marries Celeste, the crew of the des Gracier claimed to have debated what to do next, before finally deciding that they would bring it with them to Gibraltar. Though Captain more House had been reluctant, it was first Mate de Vaux who convinced him to bring the abandoned ship with them in the hope of securing some salvage compensation. Though the ship was still owned and the cargo would not be handed to them, the crew of the Day Gracier would be

entitled to claim significant compensation for having rescued it. Such a fee would often be well worth the effort. Over the next few weeks, the two vessels made their way together, only losing sight of each other on the final approach to Gibraltar, when a heavy storm momentarily separated them, in a twist of fate that seems fitting for the moment. This separation saw Marry Celeste arriving into port a day later than Day Gracier on the morning of Friday the thirteenth.

The following day, a telegram was sent to the major shareholder, Thomas Winchester, to inform him of the abandoned vessel's discovery and that it had been taken into custody by the Marshal of the Vice Admiralty. Incredibly, there seems to have been little interest in discovering the whereabouts of Mary Celeste's passengers. Instead,

all official interest turned immediately to business concerns. The following week, on December eighteenth, a case was opened to decide what selvash compensation should be granted to Captain Moorhouse and his crew. Over the next few days, Gibraltar's Vice Admiralty Court, presided over by Judge Sir James Cochrane, with Frederick Solifluod acting as the advocate on behalf of the crown, grilled the crew of the De Gracier about the circumstances under which

they found Mary Celeste. Clearly, pirates were not to blow since the ship and all its cargo, not to mention the possessions of its passengers, had been found intact, which left only the frankly incomprehensible explanation that Captain Briggs, a highly skilled, experienced and trustworthy sea captain, had abandoned his ship when there was absolutely no evident reason to do so. And there was one other thing that bothered Judge Cochrane

and Soliflood. How was it exactly that, if, as the De Gracier's crew maintained, they were sailing with the wind behind them that the deserted Mary Celeste was able to approach them coming the other way. After hearing Captain Morehouse and Oliver de Voe's unlikely testimony, Soliflood became convinced that some form of foul play had taken place and ordered a further inspection of the vessel in question. The investigation

was carried out on December twenty third. Later that day, adding to solid Flood's suspicions and much to the disdain of the judge, Oliver de Vaux unexpectedly removed himself from the investigation in order to complete the day Grassier's original mission. And then the results of the latest inspection came in. After making a detailed study of both the outside and inside of the vessel, the investigators found two deep gashes

cut out of each side of the ship's bow. It was suggested the marks had been created artificially to make it look like the ship had accidentally run aground, which could then be used as a reason for claiming it

had been abandoned. But that wasn't all. The investigators also found what appeared to be blood spatters on one of the sails and a deep cut in one of them the rails that ran down the side of the ship, which they presumed to have been made by an axe, and in the captain's quarters a sword was discovered that appeared to be covered in spots of blood. When solid Flood examines the item, he suspects the blade may have been wiped clean before being placed back into its scabbard.

Writing in a letter to the Board of Trade on the twenty second of January, Flood requests that immediate action be taken to discover the fate of the ship's crew and instructs a doctor to test the sail and sword

for blood. Meanwhile, as the ghost ship's discovery hits the news in homes and imports across the world, speculation mounts as to what could possibly account for the mystery, and soon the letters are mounting up on the desk of the US Consul in Gibraltar, messages from the parents, siblings, and wives of the missing crew demanding to know of any word from their loved ones. The following week, the examination into the potential blood spatterings is carried out by

a doctor patron. After taking scrapings from both the sword and the sail, as well as some other areas of interest. The doctor concludes, much to solid Flood's surprise, that the material is not blood after all, but rust. In early March first May, to the De Gracier, Oliver de Vaux is called back for further interrogation. However, after finding his original story unchanged and with no other evidence to the contrary, the Vice Admiralty of no choice but to accept his

version of events, and thus concluded their case. In the weeks that followed, Frederick Soliflood remained convinced that some form of foul play had occurred, if not by the hands of De Gracia's crew, then by that of some aboard

Mary Celeste. When it is discovered that one of the ship's barrels of alcohol had been tampered with, deposits the theory that some of the crew had got into it and, in a drunken fury, murdered Captain Briggs, along with his wife and child, and his chief mate before making their escape. This theory, however, has been roundly dismissed by many subsequent investigators, since not only were the crew all considered decent, hard working individuals, their evident respect for their captain and his

family has also been well accounted for. In the end, the crew of Day Gracia, perhaps as a result of still being held under some considerable suspicion, were a war awarded the unusually low sum of eight thousand, three hundred dollars around one hundred and fifty thousand in today's money for their troubles. In early March, a new captain was instated on Mary Celeste, and on March tenth the vessel set sail from Gibraltar, before soon after completing its original

journey to Genoa in Italy. Whatever fate befell, Captain Briggs, his wife Sarah and daughter Sophia, and the rest of his crew Albert Richardson, Andrew Gilling, Edward head Volkert and Boss Lawrenson, Arion Martin's and Gottlieb Gondieschal remains to this day unexplained. I'd like to thank Gordon in Glasgow for suggesting this week's episode Unexplained as an av Club Productions

podcast created by Richard McLain smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me Richard mcclinsmith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook with stories never before featured on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've

heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast