Chapter 47 Chapter two

At about ten o'clock in the morning on December 5, 1872, the sailing ship De Gracia was sailing in the waters between Nova Scotia and England, near the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic Ocean, and continued to Gibraltar. While advancing through the strait, I met a large sailing ship with two masts. At the same time this morning, I also met a German cargo ship heading towards the De Gracia. The two ships greeted each other from a distance in the sea. At this time, the crew of the two ships looked at the There was nothing particularly unusual about the two-masted galleon that entered between them.The hull is brand new, without the slightest damage, but it feels a bit strange when I look at it.The hull began to shake, deviated from the forward path, and faced the wind without stopping at all. The sail sometimes hung down, and sometimes it was lifted by the wind, and it retreated backwards.The sea was calm at the time, and the wind speed was gentle. The action of this large sailing ship immediately attracted the attention of the De Gracia and the German cargo ship.Was it because there was no helmsman on board or the helmsman was drunk?Both ships signaled at the same time, but neither sail responded, then the German freighter gave up, headed horizontally and disappeared.Perhaps driven by strong curiosity, the De Gracia paid attention to the other party's restlessness, and slowly approached it while avoiding collision. Captain Boyce and Adamus the helmsman looked at the sailboat with binoculars and found that the ship was There really was no one.There was no one on deck.Did all the crew members abandon the ship and escape in a storm?But from the perspective of the hull, it is quite intact.Probably because it is a leisurely and comfortable sailing ship, let it drift with the waves in the clear and vast Atlantic Ocean, all the crew members went to sleep in the cabin.Sailboats were a common thing in that era, the crew of the De Gracia thought so, and the sailboat floated over.Captain Boyce gave orders to wake them up if they fell asleep, and Adamus the helmsman sounded the emergency siren on the galleon.But there was still no response, and there was still no color on the sailboat.Captain Boyce began to feel the seriousness of the matter, and planned to board the sailboat to find out what happened.After the emergency stop, Captain Boyce, second-level helmsman Creighton and two crew members boarded the boat on the De Gracia.The sea was as calm as a mirror, without any wind or waves, and a terrible premonition struck the four of them as they sailed towards the sailboat.Everyone guessed that this may be a ship where an infectious disease spread, or that one of the crew members went crazy and killed all the others and then lurked in the cabin, or that they attacked in order to attract the attention of passing ships. A pirate ship, in short, you can't board the ship blindly.They shouted loudly while observing the galleon, and found the name and registry of the ship written on the stern: "Mary Celeste, New York." Captain Boyce and the others hung the rope on the railing and boarded. The deck of the galleon.

There was silence in the cabin, and there was no one on the deck, not even a corpse.Four people took turns shouting: "Hello! Hello!" Still no one came out.No man's ship—unmanned ship.However, there was no trace of the entire crew hastily abandoning the ship. The items on the ship were neatly arranged like ordinary ships, and there was no abnormality.The main goods on board are alcoholic liquids and toys.These are all safely stored in the cabin and show no signs of being touched.The sun was shining on the deck, and the unmanned sail was blown by the wind, making a sound like the flapping wings of a strange bird.The four men aboard the de Gracia, led by Captain Boyce, were beginning to feel terrified.They carried out a carpet search from the bow to the cabin, and even under the stairs at the stern, but they found nothing unusual.Not a single person.There is no water leakage at the bottom of the boat, and there is no water leakage everywhere. The sails and ropes are placed in fixed positions, and the equipment and spare items of the sailboat are all in good order.The sail poles were tied neatly one by one, and the most incredible thing was that there was not a single boat missing.Everyone tidied up the boat planks.It can be determined with certainty that the crew did not abandon the ship, which adds to the horror of the incident.The hidden object that would jump out from somewhere at any time made the four people nervous and on high alert, quietly checking back and forth in the cabin.The bodies of the captain and crew must be hidden somewhere.The corners of the kitchen and the sink have been checked carefully one by one.Most of the covering in the center of the cabin was lifted, thinking that there must be corpses piled up under this hatch, but in the darkness there was only cargo piled there.The more I checked, the more mysterious this matter became. Captain Boyce and his party were extremely terrifying.

If the ship was in disarray it would explain the absence of the crew, but everything appeared to be in order and spotlessly cleaned, a well-managed sailing vessel by all accounts.Everything is intact except for the entire crew.It is 100% strange that there is a neat unmanned sailboat floating on the sea during the day.After checking what appeared to be the captain's quarters, only to find that the clock that should have been there was missing.But such a discovery is not enough to unravel the mysterious truth, but it adds to everyone's doubts.Originally, things like crew riots would often happen on a sailboat, but it is completely unimaginable that such a thing happened in the scene of chaos in front of me.In fact, it seemed that life on the Mary Celeste was happy, and everything was maintained normally, until suddenly all the crew members disappeared together at a certain moment.Those freshly washed clothes were hanging on the ropes at the door of the cabin where the sailors lived, still dripping water, and the water dripped into a line on the deck. These images all confirmed the above inference.There is also a half-eaten breakfast on the table in the captain's cabin.

There seemed to be four people eating around the table, one of whom was supposed to be a child eating oatmeal with a spoon.On the top seat, which looked like the captain's seat, there were two boiled eggs cut in half from the middle and placed in small round cups.Next to it lay a bottle of what appeared to be cough medicine for the child.Whether it is a cup or a slender medicine bottle, it is placed there safely.And it may be a psychological effect. The oatmeal and eggs seem to be still warm. When talking about this matter in the future, Captain Boyce and the others think it is an illusion, but just imagine, the washed clothes are still dripping, Then it should not be surprising that the breakfast is not cold yet.Judging from the situation on the dining table, the pourable cups and medicine bottles are still standing there, so it is certain that there were people here not long ago.The Atlantic Ocean in December cannot always be calm.If there is no one on board for a long time, the dishes on the table will slide due to the shaking of the ship, and the cups and medicine bottles will be poured out immediately.And in the kitchen, the pots still held the leftovers of breakfast, like the chef's razor blades were covered with short hairs on the stovetop.In what appears to be the captain's bedroom, there is an uncovered sewing machine.On the sewing machine, the round thimble is still rolling and loaded on the machine.A child's apron was being sewn on the machine, and it probably stopped when it was about to sew the sleeves.It seemed that a woman was called up while she was sewing clothes.The girl's toys are scattered on the floor next to the sewing machine.It seems that there was a mother and daughter here just now.They should be the captain's family.This is not surprising, at that time the captain of the sailing boat would take his wife with him when he went out to sea.

There was no trace of straggling in the captain's cabin.The cash box was well locked and untouched, and the other valuables seemed to be the same.It should not have encountered pirates.The bookshelves were full of books on religion and music, and the quarters of the two helmsmen were neatly arranged, with two pocket watches on the table.There is plenty of drinking water in the sink and plenty of food in the pantry.Everywhere was neat and clean, with no sign of recent waves or storms.In addition, no reason for the entire crew to abandon the ship was found.Another point that cannot be forgotten is that all the boats are tied to fixed positions one by one.The unthinkable is that some of the necessary documents on board were lost.The logbook was found in the helmsman's room, but it was only recorded up to November 24, ten days ago, and everything after that was blank.Checking the voyage records before the 24th, I found that they were just some ordinary voyage logs, and found no clues that could explain this mysterious incident.To add to the horror, time stood still on the vertical clock in the chart room.

Whatever the reason, the fact that there was no one at hand suggested that the entire crew was a sailboat that had left abruptly.Everyone jumped from the deck into the sea suddenly, or a ship took the whole crew who were eating breakfast and working, these are explanations that cannot be explained clearly.Only a black spot resembling blood was found on the small knife used to cut the rope in the captain's room. This is a common occurrence on the knife, and this cannot be said to be an important clue. The wooden railing on the starboard side of the bow There are small black spots similar to bloodstains and marks scratched by objects such as axes or knives. No matter how well-managed the ship is, since there is no cover, no matter how meticulous the inspection, there will always be one or two small stains and flaws. There is nothing miraculous about this.Another point is that there are traces of peeling off the ship's side plate at the waterline of the bow, and it can be clearly seen that this behavior was suspended halfway through. Is this an operation during navigation, or some people intentionally harmed it? Captain Boyce could not come to a conclusion on this.The alcoholic liquids in the cargo are all very safe and there is no leakage.In the crew's quarters, there are side-by-side human-shaped hollows on the beds, and there are separate personal effects boxes containing the sailor's belongings. It is sad that these worthless things are carefully treasured.Under the pillow are pictures of lovers in distant ports.Everywhere shows the peaceful life on board so far. Only a small number of documents and clocks disappeared together with the captain, his family and all the crew members.

This is the biggest mystery in the history of the world's oceans, the famous "Mary Celeste Incident".