Page 38 - The Insurance Times September 2024

Frederick Solly-Flood, suspected mischief and investigated Abandoning a ship in the open sea is the last thing a captain
accordingly. Spearheading the investigation was Frederick would order, and a sailor would do. But is that what Captain
Solly-Flood, the Attorney General of Gibraltar. He viewed Briggs ordered? If so, why?
the case with deep suspicion, considering foul play as a likely
scenario. Later, a new investigation, drawing on modern maritime
technology and newly discovered documents, has pieced
The initial examination of the ship revealed several points together the most likely scenario. Documentarian Anne
of interest. There were cuts on the ship's rail, which Solly- MacGregor and oceanographer Phil Richardson used
Flood believed were caused by an axe. The ship's main historical weather data to plot the ship's course. "I love the
halyard, a crucial piece of rigging, was found tied to a idea of mysteries, but you should always revisit these things
makeshift sounding rod, which was unusual. These findings, using knowledge that has since come to light," says Anne
combined with the missing lifeboat and navigational MacGregor, the documentarian who launched the
instruments, led Solly-Flood to believe that a criminal act investigation and wrote, directed and produced The True
had taken place. However, as the investigation progressed, Story of the 'Mary Celeste,' partly with funding from
many of these initial suspicions began to unravel. The cuts Smithsonian Networks. MacGregor's four previous
on the rail were determined to be old and unrelated to the investigative documentaries, including The Hindenburg
crew's disappearance. The barrels of alcohol in the cargo Disaster: Probable Cause (2001), applied modern forensic
hold, initially suspected to have been tampered with, were techniques to historical questions. "There are obvious
found to be made of red oak, which is more porous than limitations for historic cases," she says. "But using the latest
white oak and could have led to natural leakage. Despite technology, you can come to a different conclusion."
the lack of concrete evidence pointing to foul play, rumours
and speculations ran rampant. For her Mary Celeste film, MacGregor began by asking what
didn't happen. Speculation concerning sea monsters was
The crew of the Dei Gratia, especially Captain Morehouse, easy to dismiss. The ship's condition was intact and with full
faced scrutiny, with some suggesting they had orchestrated cargo which seemed to rule out pirates. One theory bandied
the entire event to claim salvage rights. Frederick Solly-Flood about in the 19th century held that crew members drank
suspected that the crew may have been involved with the the alcohol onboard and mutinied; after interviewing
disappearance, even suggesting that the crew had murdered crewmen's descendants, MacGregor deemed that scenario
the Captain and his family. However, this theory was largely unlikely. Another theory assumed that alcohol vapours
disproven when stains around the ship were discovered to expanded in the Azores heat and blew off the main hatch,
not be blood, and it was re-emphasised that nothing prompting those aboard to fear an imminent explosion.
valuable had been taken. However, these accusations were
baseless. After more than three months, the court found But MacGregor notes that the boarding party found the
no evidence of foul play. Eventually, the salvagers received main hatch secured and did not report smelling any fumes.
a payment, but only one-sixth of the $46,000 for which the True, she says, nine of the 1,701 barrels in the hold were
ship and its cargo had been insured, suggesting that the empty, but the empty nine had been recorded as being
authorities were not entirely convinced of the Dei Gratia made of red oak, not white oak like the others. Red oak is
crew's innocence. known to be a more porous wood and therefore more likely
to leak. As for that homicidal sailor played by Lugosi in "The
Thus, was born one of the most durable mysteries in nautical Mystery of the Mary Celeste", he may have been drawn
history. What had happened to the ten people who had from two German crewmen, brothers Volkert and Boye
sailed aboard the Mary Celeste? Through the decades, a lack Lorenzen, who fell under suspicion because none of their
of hard facts has only spurred speculation as to what might personal possessions were found on the abandoned ship. But
have taken place. Theories have ranged from mutiny to a Lorenzen descendant told MacGregor that the pair had
pirates to sea monsters to killer waterspouts. Arthur Conan lost their gear in a shipwreck earlier in 1872. "They had no
Doyle's 1884 short story based on the case posited a capture motive," MacGregor says.
by a vengeful ex-slave, a 1935 movie featured Bela Lugosi
as a homicidal sailor. The ship was seaworthy. "It wasn't flooded or horribly

34 September 2024 The Insurance Times