I was a fireman and hazmat tech for 20 years, in the early days of my state legalizing marijuana, there was a lot of funny activity around that. One call we went on was in a brick apartment building, two stories... In one of the bottom floor apartments, the windows had been fully blown out, it had ripped the casements out of the block as well. And parts of the windows, blinds, etc, were up to 40 yards away. And absolutely zero heat damage inside. Even the three dudes in the explosion had no significant injuries. They were using butane to extract the THC into a live resin. So, they had filled the whole apartment with a perfect stoichiometric mix of fuel air and boom, a low heat, medium velocity fuel/air bomb. Same thing.
I am 65 years old and grew up hearing about the Mary Celeste, but never have I heard such a straightforward and plausible explanation as this. Thank you, Sean. I will see now if I can get my hands on the books you recommend, particularly the one by Brian Hicks.
Thanks Sean. That makes perfect sense to me. Leave the ship, vent out all the fumes the return to carry in the journey. Unfortunately due to bad and fast weather change the tow rope unfortunately snapped which left them at the mercy of the Atlantic, miles from land no doubt their fate was sealed. If that’s true it’s not a mystery it’s a incredibly sad story, especially given there was a young child on board.
@thylange because denatured alcohol is explosive. If the ship exploded it would have been seem from miles away and attract attention. Plus those instruments are the most important things for a ship Captain to have in that scenario.
Thank you for this very believable explanation of what likely happened!! Very well thought out and explained. I don’t understand why the captain did not order all the sails to be dropped, tie off the wheel , and drop the anchor! Your explanation has satisfied my curiosity on this mystery. Thanks again!!!
On a side note, I was just watching "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" recently. It's a recent film adaptation of Stoker's novel "Dracula", specifically the famous sequence where the ship (unknowingly) transporting Dracula to England is found adrift with no crew and a captain's log left behind detailing the strange disappearances of crew members. After watching this video, I only just realized that the Mary Celeste story must have been an influence on Stoker when he was writing it.
@@Dora-hi2nw oh yeah but those are just tall tails of something someone saw. What other case is there of a large ship being found at sea with every single passenger and crew mysteriously missing?
The way you pitch your voice - your delivery - is really excellent. Many TH-cam lecturers and podcasters seem unaware of their own voices and develop bad habits (or accentuate and worsen already existing ones) and it becomes intolerable to listen for more than 10-15min, unless the subject matter is compelling. Kudos.
In 2006, researchers at University College in London theorized that a cold fireball caused by the ignition of the alcohol vapors caused a panicked abandon ship. This makes sense, as alcohol has a flash point of 55 degrees F. So such an explosion would caused a loud boom and give the ship a hard jarrring, but nothing would be caught on fire, and no soot would be left behind. So a quick panicked evac is believable, and would explain the wheel not being lashed and the chronograph and maps not remaining on board. The most damnable unknown though is the condition of the line. The salvage inquest transcript alternately refers to the line as having been "cut" and having "snapped." We'll never know which is correct, and that's a damn shame.
I think your explanation makes the most sense, As regards why the wheel wasn't lashed, my own thought is that maybe it was, but the lashing came loose later. Another possibility is basic human error - the evacuation began orderly, and then "something" happened (people overcome by fumes, a freak wave, a flare-up of the fumes, etc.) and things suddenly became much less orderly. Possibility three is that someone in Dei Gratia's boarding party undid the lashing without thinking early on, and simply failed to mention it. I don't see this as a deal-breaker for the overall explanation, simply an oddity..
If you find the alcohol fumes building up inside the vessel, all you need to do is come on the open deck and sit on deck chairs while the insides are getting ventilated. Keep to the windward if necessary. You don't need to actually leave the vessel and chill in a dinghy. And if you abandon ship, the log book is the first thing you take with you. I am not happy with any of the explanations given so far.
Yes you are right. Alcohol had nothing to do with what happened. The crew of Mary Celeste were murdered. The ship was taken over and brought to a destination where it can be salvaged for money
What was the state of the anchor when it was found? They could have pulled off to an island and moored the ship and then used the small boat to land on a beach to wait while ship aired out they might not felt the need to lash the wheel. If the anchor line snapped or wasn't laid correctly it could have gotten away from the crew, stranding them. So unlashed wheel, no rush or panic with intention to return after a short time and missing small boat.
Denatured alcohol is still alcohol, maybe the explaination for some of the weird inconsistencies, like forgetting to lash the wheel, bringing equipment but not food, and the really risky idea of having _everyone_ leave the ship in a life boat only secured by one line itself. Could they all be explained by everyone being slightly or very drunk from inhaling the fumes?
The cargo was alcohol Some spilled and fumes came up These fumes could cause a fire or an explosion , so the captain ordered everyone into the lifeboat which was attached to the ship When the crew attached the rope to the ship being affected by the fumes they didn't attached the rope to the ship properly so it became undone soon to separate the lifeboat plus rope from the ship The ship now had no- one on board and that is how it was found later The captain wrote Bad weather into the logbook and because of the bad weather the lifeboat couldn't reach the ship
New to your videos and really enjoy how Mr. Munger cuts through all the poetic license of authors that so often becomes reality to some people. Very much like Michael Scherer and Amazing Randi two people I tend to guide people to when they can see the story has some agenda or was just made up to add drama is a book, TV show, or film. Not long ago someone told me the movie Platoon was the most accurate Vietnam film ever made. I laughed and he got very defensive. He bright up Oliver Stone's service in Vietnam as proof the film was realistic. I guess if someone thinks you can keep running while taking machine gun fire in your back for several minuets with you arms up he has a point. (sarcasm intended).
The wood shavings were from over fitting the cargo holds beyond the designed limits which was done by removing timber. The wood shavings remained in the bilge water and blocked the bilge pump pipes causing the holds to take on water during a storm. The free board of the ship was compromised which prompted the captain's mistake of attempting landfall on the only life boat available which resulted in all lives lost. The loss of some cargo to evaporation is not important while the apparent sea worthiness of the vessel at the time of its recovery remains puzzling as it suggests the holds did not flood entirely. Always stay with the ship no matter what.
It was clearly because they all got pulled into Limbo, and Briggs became the king of limbo, in a videogame pulled from shelves for stealing almost every asset, model, and background. Often refered to as "The Room of video games" in reference to the terrible movie. Also the game has nothing to do with that book.
Pirates? Apologies... Strange. Nothing missing. Food poisoning, mass hysteria...mirage. I visited the Azores last year just days after the hurricane. Rough doesn’t describe the damage. A minor mistake
The crew of the other ship hijacked the Mary Celeste and killed the crew, then staged the scene, then tried to collect the finder's fee. Isn't that the most likely explanation?
@@SeanMunger It makes a lot of sense. Dei Gratia are the only eye witnesses at to what they saw on the Mary Celeste. Salvage money was a huge payout in those days. They cut the rope threw everybody overboard and split their crew in half to over the ship
Most historians bore you to death. You on the other hand are an excellent speaker . You bring a lot of energy and insight to you documentaries. Thank you. Richard
Besides lashing the wheel, why weren't the sails furled? That oversight itself points more to panicky haste than a considered temporary measure such as an airing-out as suggested here. That said the hatch covers on the deck do not support an explosion. If blown off by a blast, wouldn't they be either broken or flung into the sea? I believe they abandoned the ship in a panicky state caused by fear of an imminent explosion rather than in the orderly process of a methodical airing out.
The issue i have with the nuisance explanation is, why would all 10 people be off the boat in order to air it out? That's an insane risk to take, and would seem to be completely unnecessary. Just leave a couple on board on the top deck. I did see a paper someone did where a alcohol fume burn could create a fast but short lived fire that left most everything untouched, as only the fumes themselves ignite. It's not really an explosion, so much as a quick burst of flame. That seems more likely to me, than a captain would order 100% of the crew off the boat in order to air it out.
The idea is that the fumes would have become unbearable on the ship when there was no wind, so they were trying to tow themselves along behind it to get some air.
@@Ken_Scaletta Yeah but not all the crew, this for a seasoned mariner would be almost suicide, the tattered sails flapping to put them in danger, specially without anyone on board, why not tie them? If they didn't intend to depart and planed to get back in a few hours, why to take the chronometer and sextant with them? A chronometer was a too expensive device to put in danger, it costed nearly an year of the earnings of a captain. The only reason to take those devices is if you intended to proceed with the boat without the ship, what would explain not latching the helm if they though the ship was already lost, in this case the chronometer and sextant would be the first things to take with you.
@@automaticninjaassaultcat3703 Maybe. The salvagers were not awarded the salvage fee...the court was suspicious due to the uncommon case of disappeared crew, what was uncommon because such thing would stimulate ships to not salvage any ship anymore.
Besides they would no let sails flapping and rudder unlatched unless they didn't intend to come back. Taking the chronometer and the sextant is another proof of that.
The ship was pirated. The crew of the Mary Celeste were murdered. The motivation is for the salvage money. Don't buy that nonsense that a Captain would abandon his entire ship in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. All this while the ship is clearly sea worthy. There was no fire
The Pirate Hypothesis is the new name for my one-man Electrocore band. Working on our flagship single, "Denatured Hangover (Hire a Priest)." But I digress. Interesting, I remember reading about the "cold" alcohol explosion theory some time ago, but it was presented in the context of straight-up spooking the crew into abandoning ship, which seemed like an unlikely overreaction (if the alcohol was being delivered for industrial purposes, it feels like SOMEONE on-board should have known it could do that). An accident while trying to briefly escape being fumigated sounds at least plausible. I never read that Arthur Conan Doyle story, but it sounds like it inspired the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest episode on the MC (summary: the cargo was gold disguised as alcohol, the crew finds out and mutinies, bloodlessly killing the captain and family, deciding to escape with *some* of the gold while faking their own deaths. And then they're abducted by ghosts, or aliens, or something.)
Question- if 7 barrels empty was acceptable, this must have been common enough to compare similar incidents. Meaning alcohol fumes leaking on other ships in similar condition. Was an entire crew evac SOP? Did the investigation touch on that ?
I once read a book, Embarcadero by Richard H. Dillon 1959 , that told seafaring stories out of the San Fransisco piers in the 19th century. Seems like half of them were never heard of again. What captain in his right mind would bring his wife and children on a voyage with him?
Thanks for steadily taking all of the mystery out of my life! 😄 Seriously, really enjoying your channel and the research you do. Keep up the good work.
Perhaps, but I don't think the absence of that notation tells us anything. The log as recovered contained only coordinate and weather notations, with no narrative entries on any aspect of the voyage.
@@SeanMunger fair comment, however on a routine voyage you wouldn’t expect much detail in the log. Hard to believe that an extraordinary albeit temporary disembarking, wouldn’t warrant a cursory log entry.
Alcohol is the key. Ethyl alcohol is often denatured with methanol, which tastes almost the same. And will get one drunk. And will give you a horrible headache for a week. I presume it is toxic to one's liver. An historian. Not a chemist. You're welcome.
Misterious story! The video's authour perspective is interesting. Neverthless, the captain could have remained on deck,with the family. Breathing fresh air. If an explosion was a real danger, food,, water and warm clothing should have be taken to the boat. After all, nobody knew if the boat was going to become their last hope of survival.
I'm so pleaed that you opted to teach; you have a way of concise clarity of topic, coupled with diction that compels a listener without becoming monotonous. Thank you for the lesson, sir 👍
In an old Superman comic, I think from the 60s, a giant octopus surfaced by the ship and emitted some kind of sound which attracted everybody on the ship. With everybody out on the deck, the octopus then snatched up everybody.
So, why was the Captain "careless" and leave things laying around? I'm assuming he said, "Let's take a break from the fumes for an hour. We'll be right back." Maybe his wife told him their child was getting very sick and they needed relief RIGHT NOW. So the Captain says "Okay, everyone, let's take a break from this for an hour or two. All of us."
There's also the fact he'll have been inhaling alcohol fumes for the last couple days. That explains some poor decision making well enough for me, personally.
Second comment , like I can't stress how bad parting company with your vessel is , like it's SOP on as unsafe a work environment as a trawler that if you're the only one up on watch and it's even slightly rough you don't leave the wheelhouse even to pee over the side .
Before boilermaking I worked on trawlers , I agree but I have a big issue if the wheel wasn't lashed someone HAD to be on the ship , and why if your venting the interior can't you find fresh air on deck ? Of course why would you do these things doesn't mean people didn't do said ridiculously stupid things . Like leaving the boat out at sea is up there
What if they left 1 person on board at the wheel - no need to lash it. When the tow rope broke, that person could have jumped/gone overboard in an effort to get the rest of the crew back - particularly if the weather had badly turned
Oh I know this- I saw it in the 1935 documentary 'Phantom Ship'. One-armed Bela Lugosi murdered everybody in an act of blood-crazed revenge because, years before, the First Mate had Shanghaied him and tried to feed him to sharks. Then he got amnesia from being hit on the head, forgot he'd already got his blood-crazed revenge and jumped overboard because he couldn't find the guy he wanted blood-crazed revenge on. It's the only truly logical explanation. Realistically, I'm not sure about the 'airing out fumes' hypothesis on its own- it would have made more sense for at least one person to have stayed on board to steer and help the others back on. It might be that the captain stayed on board, but got sick from the fumes or got in trouble when the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse and fell overboard, accidentally leaving the others to die on the ocean.
I think it's pretty worthy of noting, the fact that... these men would have been inhaling alcohol fumes, possibly for days. Some poor decision-making as they leave should almost be expected, at that point. Inhalation *can* cause intoxication.
It was because of a couple of really idiotic decisions. First, while Airing out the ship when the wind lessened might have been a decent plan, as you said, they should have lashed the wheel hard to one side or the other, so if the wind DID suddenly pick up, the ship would go in a circle instead of sailing off in a random direction. Second, why not furl the sails? Leaving the sails up is what let the ship outpace their smaller boat. Third, at least one person should have stayed aboard who could have turned the wheel or done SOMETHING to get the ship back to the boat. No matter how stinky the hold is, the person left on board could have climbed to the crows nest while the ship aired out, no problem.
It should be easy to determine if the hatch covers were blown off or simply removed. If they had been blown off, there would have been obvious damage to the locking mechanisms. How large were the casks? If there were 1700 of them, would that indicate they were small? Maybe hogshead- sized? If 9 were broken, how much alcohol was evaporated into how large a volume? Do those numbers support a particularly hazardous situation? I would speculate that the answer is "no", because of the statement that it was normal to have 9 barrels empty. This would suggest that a hold of that size having that amount of alcohol fumes was a pretty normal situation that had been dealt with regularly. Even with no wind, alcohol fumes are bouyant and I would think that they would readily escape through the open hatches. So, maybe it was an odd confluence of parameters involving the size of the hold the the necessity of keeping the hatches covered. When the weather improved, the captain ordered hatch covers removed to get rid of the fumes and they were alarmingly strong, causing a concerned captain to temporarily abandon ship.
When you describe what they found at the beginning of the episode I came to the conclusion that the fumes were building up they needed to be vented I think that would be common sense. Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one. I could not imagine the feeling they felt when the rope snapped
I love real facts in history, but, I also love a good mystery and ghost story to keep me up at night. Are there any historical events that you enjoy and have remained a true mystery to this day?
0:49 What really happened to The Mary Celeste? 1:44 The Mary Celeste was a commercial cargo ship 2:10 Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, 37 Years Old. 2:38 November 7th, 1872: The Mary Celeste sets sail onto the open Atlantic Ocean. 2:44 December 4th, 1872: The Mary Celeste is spotted by the De Gratia. The Mary Celeste was heading Westward, which is the wrong direction. *The Abandoned Mary Celeste* 3:20 The De Gratia Sailors went aboard The Mary Celeste. 4:10 November 25th, 1872 was the last date noted in The Mary Celeste's Log Book. 5:04 The Clothing and Gear were still there. 5:48 The Windows were open. 7:20 Why is The Mary Celeste left abandoned in the middle of The Atlantic Ocean? 7:55 A Sword was found on the floor of one of the cabins, although there was no evidence of violence. 8:49 Pirates did it! - Pirates are motivated by profit - Where is the profit here? 9:43 *The Stories that sprung up from The Mary Celeste disappearance* 9:56 Arthur Conan Doyle's story based on the Mary Celeste. 10:28 1913 Able-Fasdike Papers *Notes about The Mary Celeste's Journey* 11:39 Bad Weather occurred along the journey. 12:35 Alcohol Fumes may have leaked and built up fumes. 13:12 The crew escaped the fumes in a small boat, with the main ship floating along without them. 14:44 The ship does not appear to have been abandoned hastily. It appeared like they would return to 15:37 _Ghost Ship_ by South Carolina Journalist, Brian Hicks. There was no explosion. - The ship stinks from the alcohol on board - Captain Briggs orders the windows open to air out the ship - They have to get off the ship to get away from the alcohol fumes - they get into the small tow boat, and ride behind The Mary Celeste - The bad weather breaks the tow rope, separating them from their ship. 17:22 The wheel was not lashed. 18:11 The Mary Celeste was returned to service, until she sank in 1885 in the Caribbean.
That is exactly what happened. I don't know why people keep believing this nonsense about the crew of the Mary Celeste abandoning a ship in the middle of the ocean with no land insight.
Good vid thanks for the upload! Gotta say though your conclusion doesn’t fit… 1. Why bring the chronograph and maps to just air out the vessel? 2. If they were truly just “waiting for it to air out” wouldn’t they have lashed the wheel? They didn’t seem to put the ship on the auto pilot of the day, this would be extremely illogical for a crew of seasoned mariners. To me the explosion has always made the most sense as it would’ve caused a mass panic but to think that the captain would’ve gone extended times without examining the cargo and simply not noticed horrific odors also is hard to believe.
You contest his theory and you miss out on a red heart. Too often the case with these Jeffersonian uploaders. The ego with it. Averaging probably one view per day, I'd be red hearting every one whom bothered to view and input regardless of opinion.
Also I was thinking what chemical did they denature the alcohol with? Could those fumes have contributed as well? Also with regard to lashing the wheel, as the captain had a lot on his plate worrying about the ship, crew, cargo, wife, baby and himself maybe he forgot? This may have been a unique situation for him as seasoned as he was.
I think it was usual to use methanol, in fact USA Army (long ago) used a mix of ethanol/methanol called sterno to heat food so soldiers could not drink it. I know for a fact that by 1910 methanol was widely used but before that formaldehyde and acetone were used too.
Nope. No way in hell the weather would turn so fast that they couldn’t get back on board. And there is no way a sudden gust of wind would catch the ships sail and accelerate it quick enough to snap that line. As a former sailor myself, having sailed both the Pacific and Atlantic at all times of year the idea of a sudden weather turn so fast one couldn’t react is completely illogical. The story about leaking alcohol is definitely part of it but I guarantee there was foul play of some kind in this mystery.
I was a fireman and hazmat tech for 20 years, in the early days of my state legalizing marijuana, there was a lot of funny activity around that. One call we went on was in a brick apartment building, two stories... In one of the bottom floor apartments, the windows had been fully blown out, it had ripped the casements out of the block as well. And parts of the windows, blinds, etc, were up to 40 yards away. And absolutely zero heat damage inside. Even the three dudes in the explosion had no significant injuries.
They were using butane to extract the THC into a live resin. So, they had filled the whole apartment with a perfect stoichiometric mix of fuel air and boom, a low heat, medium velocity fuel/air bomb. Same thing.
I am 65 years old and grew up hearing about the Mary Celeste, but never have I heard such a straightforward and plausible explanation as this. Thank you, Sean. I will see now if I can get my hands on the books you recommend, particularly the one by Brian Hicks.
People often suggest ghosts or pirates, but somehow never consider the possibility of ghost pirates. This may be the missing link.
Exactly!!!! 😂
Thanks Sean. That makes perfect sense to me. Leave the ship, vent out all the fumes the return to carry in the journey. Unfortunately due to bad and fast weather change the tow rope unfortunately snapped which left them at the mercy of the Atlantic, miles from land no doubt their fate was sealed. If that’s true it’s not a mystery it’s a incredibly sad story, especially given there was a young child on board.
But why grab the sextant and the other stuff?
@@thylangeThat's a good point. Why take that stuff if you will only be gone for an hour?
@thylange because denatured alcohol is explosive. If the ship exploded it would have been seem from miles away and attract attention. Plus those instruments are the most important things for a ship Captain to have in that scenario.
Thank you for this very believable explanation of what likely happened!! Very well thought out and explained. I don’t understand why the captain did not order all the sails to be dropped, tie off the wheel , and drop the anchor! Your explanation has satisfied my curiosity on this mystery. Thanks again!!!
On a side note, I was just watching "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" recently. It's a recent film adaptation of Stoker's novel "Dracula", specifically the famous sequence where the ship (unknowingly) transporting Dracula to England is found adrift with no crew and a captain's log left behind detailing the strange disappearances of crew members. After watching this video, I only just realized that the Mary Celeste story must have been an influence on Stoker when he was writing it.
It was the MH370 of the late 19th century.
@@Dora-hi2nw oh yeah but those are just tall tails of something someone saw. What other case is there of a large ship being found at sea with every single passenger and crew mysteriously missing?
The way you pitch your voice - your delivery - is really excellent. Many TH-cam lecturers and podcasters seem unaware of their own voices and develop bad habits (or accentuate and worsen already existing ones) and it becomes intolerable to listen for more than 10-15min, unless the subject matter is compelling. Kudos.
Thanks!
In 2006, researchers at University College in London theorized that a cold fireball caused by the ignition of the alcohol vapors caused a panicked abandon ship. This makes sense, as alcohol has a flash point of 55 degrees F. So such an explosion would caused a loud boom and give the ship a hard jarrring, but nothing would be caught on fire, and no soot would be left behind. So a quick panicked evac is believable, and would explain the wheel not being lashed and the chronograph and maps not remaining on board.
The most damnable unknown though is the condition of the line. The salvage inquest transcript alternately refers to the line as having been "cut" and having "snapped." We'll never know which is correct, and that's a damn shame.
I think your explanation makes the most sense, As regards why the wheel wasn't lashed, my own thought is that maybe it was, but the lashing came loose later. Another possibility is basic human error - the evacuation began orderly, and then "something" happened (people overcome by fumes, a freak wave, a flare-up of the fumes, etc.) and things suddenly became much less orderly. Possibility three is that someone in Dei Gratia's boarding party undid the lashing without thinking early on, and simply failed to mention it. I don't see this as a deal-breaker for the overall explanation, simply an oddity..
If you find the alcohol fumes building up inside the vessel, all you need to do is come on the open deck and sit on deck chairs while the insides are getting ventilated. Keep to the windward if necessary. You don't need to actually leave the vessel and chill in a dinghy. And if you abandon ship, the log book is the first thing you take with you. I am not happy with any of the explanations given so far.
Yes you are right. Alcohol had nothing to do with what happened. The crew of Mary Celeste were murdered. The ship was taken over and brought to a destination where it can be salvaged for money
What was the state of the anchor when it was found? They could have pulled off to an island and moored the ship and then used the small boat to land on a beach to wait while ship aired out they might not felt the need to lash the wheel. If the anchor line snapped or wasn't laid correctly it could have gotten away from the crew, stranding them. So unlashed wheel, no rush or panic with intention to return after a short time and missing small boat.
Denatured alcohol is still alcohol, maybe the explaination for some of the weird inconsistencies, like forgetting to lash the wheel, bringing equipment but not food, and the really risky idea of having _everyone_ leave the ship in a life boat only secured by one line itself. Could they all be explained by everyone being slightly or very drunk from inhaling the fumes?
Ghost ships fascinate me, especially the Octavius.
The cargo was alcohol Some spilled and fumes came up
These fumes could cause a fire or an explosion , so the captain ordered everyone into the lifeboat which was attached to the ship
When the crew attached the rope to the ship being affected by the fumes they didn't attached the rope to the ship properly so it became undone soon to separate the lifeboat plus rope from the ship
The ship now had no- one on board and that is how it was found later
The captain wrote Bad weather into the logbook and because of the bad weather the lifeboat couldn't reach the ship
Of all the ghost stories about the Mary Celeste I cannot recall that it was to be lost again in the next decade.
I’m new here and love your videos. I’m wondering why people didn’t avoid ship travel during active wartime?
Which war are you referring to?
New to your videos and really enjoy how Mr. Munger cuts through all the poetic license of authors that so often becomes reality to some people. Very much like Michael Scherer and Amazing Randi two people I tend to guide people to when they can see the story has some agenda or was just made up to add drama is a book, TV show, or film.
Not long ago someone told me the movie Platoon was the most accurate Vietnam film ever made. I laughed and he got very defensive. He bright up Oliver Stone's service in Vietnam as proof the film was realistic. I guess if someone thinks you can keep running while taking machine gun fire in your back for several minuets with you arms up he has a point. (sarcasm intended).
I wonder what conclusions a possible Cold Case detective could come up with it provided the facts.
The wood shavings were from over fitting the cargo holds beyond the designed limits which was done by removing timber. The wood shavings remained in the bilge water and blocked the bilge pump pipes causing the holds to take on water during a storm. The free board of the ship was compromised which prompted the captain's mistake of attempting landfall on the only life boat available which resulted in all lives lost. The loss of some cargo to evaporation is not important while the apparent sea worthiness of the vessel at the time of its recovery remains puzzling as it suggests the holds did not flood entirely. Always stay with the ship no matter what.
It was clearly because they all got pulled into Limbo, and Briggs became the king of limbo, in a videogame pulled from shelves for stealing almost every asset, model, and background. Often refered to as "The Room of video games" in reference to the terrible movie.
Also the game has nothing to do with that book.
So it could be as simple as leaking barrels and a poorly tied knot? Occam's Razor?
Pirates? Apologies...
Strange. Nothing missing. Food poisoning, mass hysteria...mirage. I visited the Azores last year just days after the hurricane. Rough doesn’t describe the damage. A minor mistake
Hollow earth
Why not drop all sail? That was a bad decision - and the most likely
The crew of the other ship hijacked the Mary Celeste and killed the crew, then staged the scene, then tried to collect the finder's fee. Isn't that the most likely explanation?
No. Far from it. There's zero evidence to support that theory and it makes very little practical sense.
@@SeanMunger It makes a lot of sense. Dei Gratia are the only eye witnesses at to what they saw on the Mary Celeste. Salvage money was a huge payout in those days.
They cut the rope threw everybody overboard and split their crew in half to over the ship
Maybe the alcohol fumes diminished their ability to think straight?
I always thought ot was insurance fraud
I like the GOONS explanation for the mystery
Most historians bore you to death. You on the other hand are an excellent speaker . You bring a lot of energy and insight to you documentaries. Thank you. Richard
Besides lashing the wheel, why weren't the sails furled? That oversight itself points more to panicky haste than a considered temporary measure such as an airing-out as suggested here. That said the hatch covers on the deck do not support an explosion. If blown off by a blast, wouldn't they be either broken or flung into the sea? I believe they abandoned the ship in a panicky state caused by fear of an imminent explosion rather than in the orderly process of a methodical airing out.
The issue i have with the nuisance explanation is, why would all 10 people be off the boat in order to air it out? That's an insane risk to take, and would seem to be completely unnecessary. Just leave a couple on board on the top deck. I did see a paper someone did where a alcohol fume burn could create a fast but short lived fire that left most everything untouched, as only the fumes themselves ignite. It's not really an explosion, so much as a quick burst of flame. That seems more likely to me, than a captain would order 100% of the crew off the boat in order to air it out.
The idea is that the fumes would have become unbearable on the ship when there was no wind, so they were trying to tow themselves along behind it to get some air.
@@Ken_Scaletta Yeah but not all the crew, this for a seasoned mariner would be almost suicide, the tattered sails flapping to put them in danger, specially without anyone on board, why not tie them? If they didn't intend to depart and planed to get back in a few hours, why to take the chronometer and sextant with them? A chronometer was a too expensive device to put in danger, it costed nearly an year of the earnings of a captain. The only reason to take those devices is if you intended to proceed with the boat without the ship, what would explain not latching the helm if they though the ship was already lost, in this case the chronometer and sextant would be the first things to take with you.
@@automaticninjaassaultcat3703 Maybe. The salvagers were not awarded the salvage fee...the court was suspicious due to the uncommon case of disappeared crew, what was uncommon because such thing would stimulate ships to not salvage any ship anymore.
Besides they would no let sails flapping and rudder unlatched unless they didn't intend to come back. Taking the chronometer and the sextant is another proof of that.
The ship was pirated. The crew of the Mary Celeste were murdered. The motivation is for the salvage money. Don't buy that nonsense that a Captain would abandon his entire ship in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. All this while the ship is clearly sea worthy. There was no fire
It was marauding daleks
The Pirate Hypothesis is the new name for my one-man Electrocore band. Working on our flagship single, "Denatured Hangover (Hire a Priest)." But I digress.
Interesting, I remember reading about the "cold" alcohol explosion theory some time ago, but it was presented in the context of straight-up spooking the crew into abandoning ship, which seemed like an unlikely overreaction (if the alcohol was being delivered for industrial purposes, it feels like SOMEONE on-board should have known it could do that). An accident while trying to briefly escape being fumigated sounds at least plausible.
I never read that Arthur Conan Doyle story, but it sounds like it inspired the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest episode on the MC (summary: the cargo was gold disguised as alcohol, the crew finds out and mutinies, bloodlessly killing the captain and family, deciding to escape with *some* of the gold while faking their own deaths. And then they're abducted by ghosts, or aliens, or something.)
So refreshing to hear your rational perspective on these very interesting topics.
Question- if 7 barrels empty was acceptable, this must have been common enough to compare similar incidents. Meaning alcohol fumes leaking on other ships in similar condition. Was an entire crew evac SOP? Did the investigation touch on that ?
I once read a book, Embarcadero by Richard H. Dillon 1959 , that told seafaring stories out of the San Fransisco piers in the 19th century. Seems like half of them were never heard of again. What captain in his right mind would bring his wife and children on a voyage with him?
Yes, this is a difficult mystery to unravel, but your opinion seems the most logical, based on the limited facts available. Thank you!
I've never heard about Mary Celeste but the moment I heard about the cargo of denatured alcohol, my first thought was, "fumes!"
Thanks for steadily taking all of the mystery out of my life! 😄 Seriously, really enjoying your channel and the research you do. Keep up the good work.
Wouldn’t days of foul odours and a plan to vent the ship/use the row boat be recorded in the ships log?
Perhaps, but I don't think the absence of that notation tells us anything. The log as recovered contained only coordinate and weather notations, with no narrative entries on any aspect of the voyage.
@@SeanMunger fair comment, however on a routine voyage you wouldn’t expect much detail in the log. Hard to believe that an extraordinary albeit temporary disembarking, wouldn’t warrant a cursory log entry.
Good point
Alcohol is the key. Ethyl alcohol is often denatured with methanol, which tastes almost the same. And will get one drunk. And will give you a horrible headache for a week. I presume it is toxic to one's liver. An historian. Not a chemist. You're welcome.
Misterious story!
The video's authour perspective is interesting.
Neverthless, the captain could have remained on deck,with the family.
Breathing fresh air.
If an explosion was a real danger, food,, water and warm clothing should have be taken to the boat.
After all, nobody knew if the boat was going to become their last hope of survival.
I'm so pleaed that you opted to teach; you have a way of concise clarity of topic, coupled with diction that compels a listener without becoming monotonous.
Thank you for the lesson, sir 👍
It's certainly not unknown for people to drink denatured alcohol (methylated spirits).
In an old Superman comic, I think from the 60s, a giant octopus surfaced by the ship and emitted some kind of sound which attracted everybody on the ship. With everybody out on the deck, the octopus then snatched up everybody.
A much more believable story than Daleks, albeit less fun 😊
Great subject and video. Also, the Avantasia t-shirt \m/
(/s) Doctor Who blamed the Daleks lol
They probably left to avoid being killed by the fumes.
I still don't understand how the Bermuda Triangle released the fumes.
So, why was the Captain "careless" and leave things laying around? I'm assuming he said, "Let's take a break from the fumes for an hour. We'll be right back." Maybe his wife told him their child was getting very sick and they needed relief RIGHT NOW. So the Captain says "Okay, everyone, let's take a break from this for an hour or two. All of us."
There's also the fact he'll have been inhaling alcohol fumes for the last couple days. That explains some poor decision making well enough for me, personally.
Second comment , like I can't stress how bad parting company with your vessel is , like it's SOP on as unsafe a work environment as a trawler that if you're the only one up on watch and it's even slightly rough you don't leave the wheelhouse even to pee over the side .
If you ever needed proof that Prof Munger is the best historian on YT, solving the mystery of the Mary Celeste seems pretty good to me 🤣
Before boilermaking I worked on trawlers , I agree but I have a big issue if the wheel wasn't lashed someone HAD to be on the ship , and why if your venting the interior can't you find fresh air on deck ? Of course why would you do these things doesn't mean people didn't do said ridiculously stupid things . Like leaving the boat out at sea is up there
What if they left 1 person on board at the wheel - no need to lash it. When the tow rope broke, that person could have jumped/gone overboard in an effort to get the rest of the crew back - particularly if the weather had badly turned
Oh I know this- I saw it in the 1935 documentary 'Phantom Ship'. One-armed Bela Lugosi murdered everybody in an act of blood-crazed revenge because, years before, the First Mate had Shanghaied him and tried to feed him to sharks. Then he got amnesia from being hit on the head, forgot he'd already got his blood-crazed revenge and jumped overboard because he couldn't find the guy he wanted blood-crazed revenge on. It's the only truly logical explanation.
Realistically, I'm not sure about the 'airing out fumes' hypothesis on its own- it would have made more sense for at least one person to have stayed on board to steer and help the others back on. It might be that the captain stayed on board, but got sick from the fumes or got in trouble when the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse and fell overboard, accidentally leaving the others to die on the ocean.
Speaking of UFOs, can you do one of these on Skinwalker Ranch? TIA
I think it's pretty worthy of noting, the fact that... these men would have been inhaling alcohol fumes, possibly for days. Some poor decision-making as they leave should almost be expected, at that point. Inhalation *can* cause intoxication.
limbo of the lost.
It was because of a couple of really idiotic decisions.
First, while Airing out the ship when the wind lessened might have been a decent plan, as you said, they should have lashed the wheel hard to one side or the other, so if the wind DID suddenly pick up, the ship would go in a circle instead of sailing off in a random direction.
Second, why not furl the sails? Leaving the sails up is what let the ship outpace their smaller boat.
Third, at least one person should have stayed aboard who could have turned the wheel or done SOMETHING to get the ship back to the boat. No matter how stinky the hold is, the person left on board could have climbed to the crows nest while the ship aired out, no problem.
It should be easy to determine if the hatch covers were blown off or simply removed. If they had been blown off, there would have been obvious damage to the locking mechanisms. How large were the casks? If there were 1700 of them, would that indicate they were small? Maybe hogshead- sized? If 9 were broken, how much alcohol was evaporated into how large a volume? Do those numbers support a particularly hazardous situation? I would speculate that the answer is "no", because of the statement that it was normal to have 9 barrels empty. This would suggest that a hold of that size having that amount of alcohol fumes was a pretty normal situation that had been dealt with regularly. Even with no wind, alcohol fumes are bouyant and I would think that they would readily escape through the open hatches. So, maybe it was an odd confluence of parameters involving the size of the hold the the necessity of keeping the hatches covered. When the weather improved, the captain ordered hatch covers removed to get rid of the fumes and they were alarmingly strong, causing a concerned captain to temporarily abandon ship.
Great content. Bizarre how little views you get.
Excellent video, with the most probable cause. Thank you. I am presently reading Ghost Ship.
When you describe what they found at the beginning of the episode I came to the conclusion that the fumes were building up they needed to be vented I think that would be common sense. Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one. I could not imagine the feeling they felt when the rope snapped
Really interesting episode. Cheers from London.
Fosdike? Reminds me of Fearless Fosdick, the Dick Track parody from Lil'Abner.
The alcohol fumes being annoying or disorienting could explain the lack of the wheel being tied down.
Also do you think that the alcohol fumes were affecting the crews judgement?
Insure the cargo, sail a while, then fix the rudder, abandon ship and cash in, but she did not sink
The fumes may also have had a bad effect on the thinking of the crew.
I heard that the leaky barrels were a different kind of oak. Not sire it its true.
well mary celeste was found alone the fate of her crew is still unknown
I still say aliens and/or sea monsters and/or pirate ghosts did it
151 years now! Great video as always Sean!
Nice House of Leaves copy on your desk : )
can we rule out bigfoot?
Occam's Razor.
Alien zombies
I love real facts in history, but, I also love a good mystery and ghost story to keep me up at night. Are there any historical events that you enjoy and have remained a true mystery to this day?
Theophilus's gold! I made a video on it.
another good one sean ,thank you
love it
0:49 What really happened to The Mary Celeste?
1:44 The Mary Celeste was a commercial cargo ship
2:10 Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, 37 Years Old.
2:38
November 7th, 1872: The Mary Celeste sets sail onto the open Atlantic Ocean.
2:44 December 4th, 1872: The Mary Celeste is spotted by the De Gratia. The Mary Celeste was heading Westward, which is the wrong direction.
*The Abandoned Mary Celeste*
3:20 The De Gratia Sailors went aboard The Mary Celeste.
4:10 November 25th, 1872 was the last date noted in The Mary Celeste's Log Book.
5:04 The Clothing and Gear were still there.
5:48 The Windows were open.
7:20 Why is The Mary Celeste left abandoned in the middle of The Atlantic Ocean?
7:55 A Sword was found on the floor of one of the cabins, although there was no evidence of violence.
8:49 Pirates did it!
- Pirates are motivated by profit
- Where is the profit here?
9:43
*The Stories that sprung up from The Mary Celeste disappearance*
9:56 Arthur Conan Doyle's story based on the Mary Celeste.
10:28 1913 Able-Fasdike Papers
*Notes about The Mary Celeste's Journey*
11:39 Bad Weather occurred along the journey.
12:35 Alcohol Fumes may have leaked and built up fumes.
13:12 The crew escaped the fumes in a small boat, with the main ship floating along without them.
14:44 The ship does not appear to have been abandoned hastily. It appeared like they would return to
15:37 _Ghost Ship_ by South Carolina Journalist, Brian Hicks. There was no explosion.
- The ship stinks from the alcohol on board
- Captain Briggs orders the windows open to air out the ship
- They have to get off the ship to get away from the alcohol fumes
- they get into the small tow boat, and ride behind The Mary Celeste
- The bad weather breaks the tow rope, separating them from their ship.
17:22 The wheel was not lashed.
18:11 The Mary Celeste was returned to service, until she sank in 1885 in the Caribbean.
The crew that turned the Celeste in for salvage, pirated the ship. Then made up the vanishing as a cover story.
That is exactly what happened. I don't know why people keep believing this nonsense about the crew of the Mary Celeste abandoning a ship in the middle of the ocean with no land insight.
Great video!
Thanks!
Great stuff
Any interest in jack the ripper?
Good vid thanks for the upload! Gotta say though your conclusion doesn’t fit…
1. Why bring the chronograph and maps to just air out the vessel?
2. If they were truly just “waiting for it to air out” wouldn’t they have lashed the wheel? They didn’t seem to put the ship on the auto pilot of the day, this would be extremely illogical for a crew of seasoned mariners.
To me the explosion has always made the most sense as it would’ve caused a mass panic but to think that the captain would’ve gone extended times without examining the cargo and simply not noticed horrific odors also is hard to believe.
You contest his theory and you miss out on a red heart. Too often the case with these Jeffersonian uploaders. The ego with it. Averaging probably one view per day, I'd be red hearting every one whom bothered to view and input regardless of opinion.
Also I was thinking what chemical did they denature the alcohol with? Could those fumes have contributed as well? Also with regard to lashing the wheel, as the captain had a lot on his plate worrying about the ship, crew, cargo, wife, baby and himself maybe he forgot? This may have been a unique situation for him as seasoned as he was.
I think it was usual to use methanol, in fact USA Army (long ago) used a mix of ethanol/methanol called sterno to heat food so soldiers could not drink it. I know for a fact that by 1910 methanol was widely used but before that formaldehyde and acetone were used too.
Nope. No way in hell the weather would turn so fast that they couldn’t get back on board. And there is no way a sudden gust of wind would catch the ships sail and accelerate it quick enough to snap that line. As a former sailor myself, having sailed both the Pacific and Atlantic at all times of year the idea of a sudden weather turn so fast one couldn’t react is completely illogical. The story about leaking alcohol is definitely part of it but I guarantee there was foul play of some kind in this mystery.
Algorithm.