At 7.50 AM July 10th, 1969 a sailboat was spotted drifting by the mail vessel Picardy at 33’ 11’’ North, 40’ 28’’ West off the Caribbean. The boat was boarded but nobody was found. An abandoned ship much like the Mary Celeste found 100 years earlier. It was obvious that somebody has been living here for a long time. The cabin was a mess with radio equipment, books and notes spread around including two ship logs and a radio log. The boat was Teignmouth Electron, a trimaran that participated in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed race around the globe without any help. The sailor was Donald Crowhurst, an unknown sailor that signed on for the race in the last minute. A search was launched with no result. Donald Crowhurst was lost to the sea.
Donald Crowhurst at the boom of Teignmouth Electron
A tale of two journeys
Teignmouth
Electron was found with two ship logs and one radio
log. One of the logs reflected the route he sailed. Another reflected the route
mandated by the race and the one he was expected to take. Donald Crowhurst
began to use the fake log Dec 6; when he had decided not to sail around the
Antarctic but instead hide in the Atlantic off South America. He kept both logs
updated. Communication with ships in this part of the world was limited to
brief radio transmissions with land-based radio stations. That would in this
case be a station in New Zealand. It was not too hard to fool the race
officials. Crowhurst resumed racing and broke radio silence on May 4th when he
reported he had sailed around the world at a phenomenal speed. It was a
sensation; an unknown sailor was now number two in the Golden Globe race.
The real and faked routes of Donald Crowhurst. The “real” route is red
Teignmouth Electron was, when found, searched and the logbooks found. They revealed a stunning story: he never made it around the world, in fact he never left the Atlantic Ocean. Donald Crowhurst must have realized that he would never make it round the Cape Horn, let alone win the race. He was trapped. He would be disgraced and in a disastrous financial situation. He had bet everything and lost. In the end he became world famous but left wife and four children behind. The general belief is that he deliberately jumped into the sea.
The Teignmouth Electron cabin with a logbook. Log with notes and mathematical calculations
Log pages, with the text: “It is Finished, IT IS THE MERCY”
.
Donald Crowhurst
Donald Crowhurst was a complex person: He was intelligent and inventive. One of the books he had aboard Teignmouth Electron was Einstein’s “The Special and the General Theory”. He was an electronic wizard with his own company, a seasoned sailor and first-rate navigator. He designed Teignmouth Electron with many novel features. But the construction of the boat was forced, the building process took place in 3 phases simultaneously to save time. The boat was not ready when the race started: equipment was missing or not installed, it was slow windwards with steerings problems and was unfit for the storms of the Southern Ocean. Why did he bring himself in the situation he ended up in. What does it do to a man being alone in a small vessel in a vast sea for 8 months? These are some of the questions raised about Donald Crowhurst and his last fatal journey.
Timeline
Oct 31st, day 1 Departed Teignmouth at 16:32 hours
Nov 15th, day 15 Off Portugal having logged 1,300 miles, was only 800 miles along his intended route, a distance he intended to cover in six days. He was beginning to realize that there was no way in which he could win the race with such slow progress
Nov 29th day 29 Off the Canary Islands, was possibly now having thoughts about faking the voyage.
Dec 6th, day 36 Off Cape Verde Islands. The start of the fake route. He would now use two Logbooks, one with actual route for navigation and one with the fake route.
Dec 19th, day 49 Crossed the Equator.
Dec 26th, day 55 Off Brazil. Damage found to the starboard hull.
1969 Jan 15th, day 75 His claimed position off Gough Island at the commencement of his radio silence, said to be heading for the Southern Ocean.
Mar 6th, day 126 Landed at Rio Salado, in Argentina for repairs. This would have disqualified him if it had been known by the race organisers. Departed Rio Salado 8th March.
March 29th, day 150 Off the Falkland Islands after slowly meandering around the South Atlantic to spend time while his fake route apparently rounded Cape Horn.
April 9th, day 161 Having slowly sailed north he breaks radio silence to send false signals about his position.
May 4th, day 185 His fake route through the Southern Ocean to Australia, New Zealand and Cape Horn would have taken him to this position on this date. He picks up his actual route, restarts serious racing and ceases deception.
May 21st, day 202 Position on the day that the race leader’s, Nigel Tetley in Victress, boat sank. This put Crowhurst in the lead.
June 5th, day 217 Crowhurst now caught in a tangled web of deceit over his fake voyage and begins to doubt whether he can contain the guilt when he returns to Teignmouth as the winner. He crosses the Equator sailing north.
June 18th, day 230 Increasing despair over his situation. Logbooks filled with strange entries. His mind appears to be breaking down.
June 23rd, day 235 Teignmouth Electron sighted by SS Cuyahogg.
July 1st, day 243 Presumed point when Crowhurst went overboard.
July 10 Teignmouth Electron found abandoned by the RMS Picardy
We are on board the ship Dei Gratia in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Island, bound for Genova, Italy. Dei Gratia is an American brigantine. The date is December 5, 1872. The position is 38°20′N 17°15′W, midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal. A distant ship is closing in on Dei Gratia. Its sailing is erratic, and it appears to be out of control. Its sail setting is odd and its deck empty. The name of the ship is Mary Celeste.
The story of Mary Celeste has become the story of a ghost ship. It has over time fascinated many. Much is known about the ship, its background and its last fatal voyage, yet so many questions remain unanswered. There is an abundance of web sites dedicated to the mystery, many claims to have solved the mystery. So far no one has. This post goes back in time as close to the event as possible. To get an understanding of how it was to cross the Atlantic in a ship in 1872 and review the fate of Mary Celeste in that light. Listening to the people that were close the events that took place. But rest assured; the mystery will never be truly solved.
Mary Celeste
An 1861 painting of Mary Celeste
Mary
Celeste was a Brigantine, a two-mast ship, 100-foot-long, weighed 282 tons.
The crew of seven was led by Captain Briggs, an experienced captain, and he had as his mate and second-in-command, Albert Richardson, another experienced sailor. They left New York harbour on 7th November with 1700 barrels of American alcohol destined for Genoa. It was a relatively short journey across the Atlantic, past the Azores, through the Straits of Gibraltar to Genoa.
List of persons on board Mary CelesteCaptain Benjamin Spooner Briggs
Once the Mary
Celeste came near to the Azores, the weather suddenly changed. Captain Briggs
wrote in his logbook that there was a storm with a lot of wind. At first this
did not worry him, because he was an expert navigator. As the hours passed, the
wind became stronger and the weather got much worse. The night of 24 November
was very stormy. At 5 a.m. on 25 November Captain Briggs wrote in his logbook
that he could see the island of Santa Maria, but he did not stop there.
He sailed
north of the island of Santa Maria. This was strange because the most direct
route to the Strait of Gibraltar is south of the island. Why did he go north
instead of south? Perhaps he wanted to leave the stormy route and look for
better weather. In any case, in the early morning of 25 November the Mary
Celeste sailed along the northern coast of the island.
The routes followed by Mary Celeste and Dei Grata* Mary Celeste at 5.A.M, 25 November and † the morning of 25 November
Charles Fay’s account for Monday 25, November 1872
The following is an extract from the book “Mary Celeste: The odyssey of an abandoned ship” by Charles Fay.
Midnight is
passed and a new and eventful day is beginning. The progress of the vessel
continues steadily. One o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock, four o’clock, the
entry against each hour reads the same – 8 knots. Soon the first streaks of
dawn will be visible, and now there is land ahead, for the log slate entry
reads: “At 5, made the island of S. Mary’s bearing ESE” and a similar entry
appears against the 6th hour.- With this bearing , it seems that the
point of land observed by the vessel’s watch must be Ponta Cabrastente which is
the north-western extremity of Saint Marys. The vessel is now approximately in
longitude 37o 0’ which is slightly further north than her position
on the previous day, at noon, when she was at latitude 36o 56’. But
why, we inquire, is Captain Briggs or whoever is directing the vessel’s course,
taking her to the north of St. Mary’s, when it must be known by all hands that,
in order to reach Genoa, they must
pass through the Strait of
Gibraltar which lies off to the southeast in the lower latitude of 35o
57’? Surely, he is not planning to land along the island’s north shore, as it
is well known that to all navigators that neither here nor elsewhere on this
island are there any harbours where vessels can find accommodation. Moreover,
he must also know, that about twenty-one miles to the northeast end of the
island. With a shifting wind – not an unusual occurrence in these waters – the
vessels position northeast extremity, lies the dangerous Dollabarat Shoal on
which the sea breaks with great violence in stormy weather, but those barely
hidden rocks are not visible when the sea is calm. His present course, if
continued, will take him between this shoal and the northeast end of the
island. With a shifting – not unusual occurrence in these waters – the vessel’s
position might become a very perilous one – but Captain Briggs is a capable
mariner, and it is safe to assume that he will not do anything reckless or
careless, especially at such a time when the safety of his wife and child, is
at stake. Can it be that he is ill or otherwise incapacitated, that some
accident, or even something more serious has befallen him, that other hands are
directing the course of Mary Celeste? Why is the vessel going into a more
northerly latitude, when she should be going to the southward? But now the
ship’s bell sounds eight times, indicating that it is eight o’clock, on this
memorable Monday morning. By this time the vessel according to the track noted
on her chart, has skirted the island’s north shore, and now comes to the final
record when the log slate reads: “At 8, Eastern point bore SSW, 6 miles distant”.
After this, silence! A silence which, after the passing of seventy years, still
remains unbroken!”.
The
“eastern point” observed by the forenoon watch on the May Celeste was, in all
likelihoods, Ponta Catsello. A point on the south-eastern shore of the island.
This point on the south-eastern shore of the island. This point is surmounted
by a detached peak of considerable height and is higher than any other place
along the island’s eastern shore. In the morning light, it would stand out even
more Prominently, lying about five miles to the northwest and probable
somewhere nearer to the Mary Celeste.
Dei Gratia
Eight days
after the Mary Celeste put to sea the Nova Scotia brig Dei Gratia sailed
from the port of New York with a cargo of petroleum bound to Gibraltar. She was
about the same size as the Mary Celeste being but thirteen gross tons
larger, she was rigged in the same way, and carried the same number of men in
her crew. Sailing steadily eastward she experienced stormy weather all the way
to the Azores. Soon after noon on December 5, 1872 halfway between the Azores
and the Portuguese coast (about 1000 miles west of Portugal), Dei Gratia
spotted a Brigantine. They recognised it as the Mary Celeste and watched it for
two hours as she drifted on the wind, seemingly out of control. The attempted
communications got no response. There were no distress signals. Captain Morehouse
ordered a small boat to be dispatched to see what was happening and the Mate Oliver
Deveau from the Dei Gratia, led the expedition.Mary
celeste seen from Dei Gratia
Mary Celeste as it may have looked like from Dei Gratia
Oliver Deveau’s account for 4th December 1872
Oliver Deveau, First Mate on Dei Gratia
“I
found no one on board the vessel. I found three and a half feet of water in the
pumps on sounding them … I found the fore hatch and the lazarette hatch both
off,–the binnacle stove in–I found everything wet in the cabin, in which there
had been a great deal of water–the skylight of the cabin was open and
raised,–the compass in the binnacle was destroyed. I found all the captain’s
effects had been left, I mean his clothing, furniture, etc. . . . I found the logbook
in the mate’s cabin on his desk; the Log Slate I found on the cabin table. I
found an entry in the Logbook up to the 24th of November, and an
entry on the Log Slate dated 25th November showing that they had
made the island of St. Mary.”
“There
seemed to be everything left behind in the cabin as if left in a hurry, but
everything it its place. I noticed the impression in the captain’s bed as of a
child having lain there. The hull of the vessel appeared in good condition and
nearly new.”
“The
masts were good, the spars all right, the rigging in very bad order–some of the
running rigging carried away, gone, –the standing rigging was all right; the
upper foretopsail and foresail gone,–apparently blown away from the yards.
Lower foretopsail hanging by the four corners. Main staysail hauled down and
lying on the forward house, loose, as if it had been let run down. Jib and foretop
staysail set; all the rest of the sails being furled .”
“There were no boats and no davits at the side. I
don’t think she used davits. It appeared as if she carried her boat on deck.
There was a spar lashed across the stern davits, so that no boat had been
there.”
Later Deveau reported that he found a section of the
vessel’s rail on the port side removed and lying on deck, leaving a gangway for
launching the small boat from the deck.
Theories
What made
the crew and the passengers leave Mary Celeste. Staying on-board less
frightening than the Atlantic. It is hard to imagine. There are many theories,
some plausible, some unlikely and some downright bizarre.
Captain
Briggs erroneously believed his ship was taking on too much water and was about
to sink. This theory is supported by the fact that the sounding rod—used to
determine the amount of water in the hold—was discovered on deck, suggesting
that it had been used just before the ship was abandoned. In addition, one of
the ship’s pumps showed signs of trouble; it was disassembled. A faulty reading
of the sounding rod and an ineffective pump could have led Captain Briggs to
believe the ship was foundering and order it abandoned. A mishap may then have
occurred in the longboat, causing all to perish.
By the first half of the 18th century the Brigantine had evolved to
refer not to a kind of vessel, but rather to a particular type of rigging:
two-masted, with her foremast fully square-rigged and her mainmast rigged with
both a fore-and-aft mainsail (a gaff sail) and square topsails and possibly
topgallant sails.
Mary Celeste sail layout
Sailing terminology
Fore
mast: the mast nearest the bow, or the mast forward of the mainmast
Main
mast: the tallest mast
jib:
triangular sail ahead of the foremast
staysail:
like a jib
foresail:
sail on the foremost mast
mainsail:
sail on the main mas
logbook:
record of the state of a ship with at least a daily entry
log
slate: preliminary log entry
bearing:
horizontal angle between the direction of a ship and another object
ESE:
East South East
SSW:
South South West
latitude:
specifies the north–south position of a point on
longitude:
specifies the east–west position of a point
hatch:
a horizontal door of a ship for cargo access
fore
hatch: hatch located in the forward part of a ship
lazarette
hatch: hatch located near the ship cabin
davits:
crane most often used to lower a lifeboat
spar:
a pole used in a sailing vessel to carry or support its sail
Mary Celeste meets Dei Gratia
Possible course of Mary Celeste after it was abandoned
Given that Mary Celeste after 25 Nov sailed without crew, the estimated course from A to B is surprisingly direct. At B somethings happened that changed ist course bringing it to C, most likely due to a loss of Upper and Lower Topsail.
