1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Hey, history fans, here's a rerun for today, brought to 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: you by Tracy V. Wilson. We hope it makes previous 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: episodes for this date easier to find in the feed. 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to this day in History Class from how Stuff 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: Works dot com and from the desk of Stuff you 6 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore 7 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hello and welcome 9 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's December five. 10 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: The Mary Celeste was found adrift on this day in 11 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy two, with no one aboard, and it was 12 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: four hundred miles or so east of the Azores, that's 13 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: off the coast of Portugal. The Mary Celeste had departed 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: from New York City on November seven. Captain Benjamin Spooner 15 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: Briggs was in command, and his wife Sarah and young 16 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: daughter were on board the vessel as well, along with 17 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: the crew. By December five, when the derelict vessel was found, 18 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: it should have already arrived in its destination of Genoa, Italy, 19 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: but instead there it was adrift. One of its lifeboats 20 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: was missing The last log entry was dated November, and 21 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: inside there was water in the bottom of the boat 22 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: about three and a half feet or a little more 23 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: than a meter deep. One of the pumps that would 24 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: have been used to remove this water was disassembled, but 25 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: otherwise everything seemed pretty normal. The cargo and the stores 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: seemed to be undamaged more or less. There was plenty 27 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,919 Speaker 1: of food and water on board, at least six months worth, 28 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: and there was really no other clue what might have happened. 29 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: What might have prompted the people on board to have 30 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: a bandaged ship that was an experienced captain and crew. 31 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: Nothing seemed that dangerous to prompt people to get into 32 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: a lifeboat rather than staying aboard the ship. The ship 33 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: that spotted the mary Celeste was the day Gratia, and 34 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: they sailed the Mary Celeste to Gibraltar. Normally, this would 35 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: have been a simple matter of just working out the 36 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: salvage rights once they got there, but the Attorney General 37 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: thoughts something seemed suspicious about all of this, and that 38 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: led to a whole investigation into whether there had been 39 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: some kind of foul play involved. Although that investigation didn't 40 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: uncover any evidence of foul play. The crew of the day, 41 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: Grattia didn't get nearly as much money out of their 42 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: whole salvage effort as they normally would have, so it 43 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: seems as though maybe they still had some suspicion about them. 44 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: The Mary Celestia was fixed up and re christened and 45 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: put back into service where it had a relatively normal 46 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: several years until it was run around on purpose with 47 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: its captain trying to commit some insurance fraud. This whole thing, though, 48 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: it was very mysterious, and because it's so mysterious, there's 49 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: just been a lot of speculation about what happened. Some 50 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: of it is very far fetched, like sea monsters. Maybe 51 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: sea monsters ate everyone. That didn't happen. A little more probable, 52 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: perhaps there was a mutiny, perhaps it was pirates or 53 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: some other kind of attack. The cargo aboard was industrial alcohol, 54 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: and so there's been a lot of speculation that maybe 55 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: something caused fumes from the cargo to ignite, causing an 56 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: explosion that was frightening enough that it caused everyone to flee. 57 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: That one was discounted for a long time because there 58 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: weren't any burn marks to suggest that an explosion had happened, 59 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: but some more recent experiments had suggested that it is 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: possible that there could have been an explosion that didn't 61 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: catch anything alight. It's also possible that the crew became 62 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: disoriented at sea, and that that, combined with the faulty pump, 63 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: led them to believe that they had a better chance 64 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: of survival in the lifeboat than in the ship. Regardless 65 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: of exactly what happened, though, the Mary Celest has become 66 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: one of history's most famous go ships. You can learn 67 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,839 Speaker 1: more about this in the June episode of Stuffy Miss 68 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: in History Class. Thanks to Ksey P. Graham and Chandler 69 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: Maze for their audio work on the show. You can 70 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: subscribe to This Day in History Class on Apple podcast, 71 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: Google Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts, including 72 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app. You can tune in tomorrow 73 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: for another maritime tale, although this one is a lot 74 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: more tragic than mysterious.