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The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 17

Publication:
The Missouliani
Location:
Missoula, Montana
Issue Date:
Page:
17
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

i THE SUNDAY MISSOULIAN, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 31, 1932. to the Other Mary Celeste Theories By Charles B. Driscoll Sea drifted away quickly, leaving INTEREST In the mystery of the Mary Celeste continues the ship's company marooned on the island (which for the purpose of this solution, was uninhabited). After thinking Stumbling over the body, he damages a barrel of alcohol. When the body is in the boat, he picks up an axe, but weak from exertion and hunger, his first blow just cuts a slash into the side of the "Mary Celeste." His second blow does no better, but his third and fourth are successful.

Down into the sea the yawl falls with, her ghastly crew. Looking over the side, the convict loses his balance and falls after the yawl. things over, (or for some obscure reason) the Captain decided to try and reach one of the larger islands and obtain help. Putting off in the boat, and getting some distance mamiest itself among readers of this feature. I have received more solutions of the mystery during the recent hot weather than at any other time since the fate of the famous brig was first mentioned in this series.

Since several good letters on the subject are short, I have decided to devote this week's space to four separate solutions. 1 Miss Doris Brodeur, Worcester, has a short and mappy solution of the mystery. She doesn't attempt to aiswer every question that arisen about the vessel from shore they were swamped Days later the "Dei Gratia" found this vessel, manned by no one, with only bloodstains, a few slashes, and a missing yawl for clews. From Canada. end her crew since the Mary Celeste was found at sea, all ails set and nobody aboard, tut she disposes of the living people connected with the ft ship in a gory and thorough going manner.

Here is her letter: Another Theory. This is what I think haD- pened on board the "Mary be the work of pirates, though at the time the Mary Celeste was picked up by the Dei Gratia, it was a mystery. After he quit the sea and between 1872 and 1877, he read in a New York paper about a party that was exploring or was shipwrecked and landed on an island in that vicinity and found a number of skulls and bones in about the same place. A child's skull was also found. They had perished for the want cf food and water.

This led him to believe that it was the work of pirates. About the gash in the sides above the water-line, I do not remember that he ever mentioned that. I worked in Grant Smith's shipyard about one year. During the World war they built wood ships here and I afterwards worked in the steel yards at Vancouver about one year. So, I know something about ship building.

One each side of a steel ship there is a bilge keel near the water line. This is about 10 inches wide and extends along like a shelf. It starts about 20 feet from the stem and runs back to within 30 feet of the stern. Could it be possible that Captain Briggs contemplated installing a bilge keel or was It the work of pirates? I think it was the latter. The mystery will never be solved but to me the piracy theory Is most acceptable.

From Massachusetts. There is Just room to add another chort letter from a Worcester, reader. He is Anthony Derlsh, and this is hia solution: I follow your articles about the sea and find them most interesting. I am offering to you my conclusions the Mary Celeste mystery. The Mary Celeste left New York, carrying a cargo of alcohol, bound for Genoa.

She was manned by a crew of seven, captained by Captain Briggs, whose wife and baby also went along. Unfortunately, the crew was one that could not keep its head during distress or emergency as the finding of the Mary Celeste wholly abandoned proved. The Mary Celeste was favored with perfect weather from the time it left the port of New York until the tragedy occurred. The crew, having little to do and being restless, got at the alcohol and started drinking. Captain Briggs and his wife and daughter were on deck, wholly unaware of the crew's laziness and drinking.

Captain Briggs was brought off his guard by the ideal shipshape manner in which the voyage was progressing. And this brings us to the sorrowful climax of an altogether pleasant voyage. Perhaps the man on watch was at the barrel, perhaps he was altogether to drunk to see or care which way th Mary Celeste was heading, but, any- way, the Mary Celeste struck something adrift there on the sea that cut into her bows. The crew, drunk, perhaps some were inexperienced, lost their heads when the crash occurred. They demanded that Captain Briggs abandon the ship, throwing the chronometer, sextant, and ship's papers into his hands.

The Captain, fearing for his wife and baby daughter, was forced to abandon ship, perhaps even on his wife's plea. In their hurry to get away, some member of the crew cut away the yawl whose rope had become snarled, with an axe, explaining the gash on the rail. This gash on the rail proves that excitment prevailed when the Mary Celeste was abandoned. The set sails proved that the weather was perfect. That they did not board the ship again, seeing she was afloat, helps, along with the broken head of the alcohol barrel, to prove that the crew was drunk and the Captain at their mercy.

(Copyright, 1932, Charles B. Driscoll). William Bamber, Winnipeg, Manitoba, has a theory with much less violence and no bloodshed in it. He writes: In solving the mystery of the Mary Celeste there are two facts to build upon. The first that can not be ignored, is the grooves cut along the ship's bows.

These were put there for a purpose, being too regular to have been caused by accident. The ventilation theory will not stand, as holes bored by an auger would serve the purpose much better and be an easier job. The second fact is the last entry on the ship's slate. "Six When the ship left New or lost, and left the readers of this series of articles to puzzle their brains, and go to bed with a headache. From Oregon.

Frank W. Morse of Portland, Oregon, writes in with some information tending to support the theory that pirates murdered or set afloat the crew and passengers of the Mary Celeste. This theory, often advanced, is weakened by some of the undisputed facts in the case. The Mary Celeste carried a cargo of alcohol, which was almost intact when the ship was found by the Dei Gratia, 10 days after the last entry had been made in her log. Pirates would be likely to take the cargo, either by transshipping it, or by putting a prize crew aboard the captured vessel and sailing her to some port at which there was a market for pirated goods.

However, no theory of the Mary Celeste is perfect, and we must accept many solutions that have holes in them. I give you Mr. Morse's letter: I have read and re-read all of your articles about the Mary Celeste. The year 1877, 1 was with a freight train composed of 21 wagons drawn by oxen. We were freighting from Bismarck, now North Dakota.

One of the drivers was an old sailor. We called him Mark Twain. He told many stories of the sea and had been one HE ADVANCED CAUTIOUSLY. ing only timbers of a given length on board, he ordered York, November 7, 1872, unknown to anyone, an escaped convict was stowed away in her hold. The convict, crazed with hunger and thirst, comes one night, maddened.

Picking up an iron rod he advances cautiously behind the man on the watch, and kills him in a single blow. Then he flings him into the sea. This fiend then goes into Mrs. Brigg's Cabin and kills her and baby Joan, and picking up their bodies, throws them into the yawl. One by one he kills the crew.

Some lie throws into the sea, others he puts in the yawl. The last nan to be murdered is the captain. With a blow he cashes out his brains and throws him in the hold, i The blood from the rod drips upon the deck, thus adding an other item to the mystery, ypon second thought the con-jict decides to put the captain's body in the yawl also. miles off an island of. the Azores." Other facts mentioned are but details, not clues, and are not significant, for they might have happened anywhere at any time.

The Captain, in need of something obtainable from this island (or his wife wishing a change of scenery) ran in a little too close, lightly grounded in shallow water and Captain or crew expected it. The complete disappearance of the ship's company can be explained in several ways. Here are two workable solutions. The alarm being given that the Mary Celeste was free, the ship's company jumped into the boat and rowed out to her, but with the ship slowly drifting out, they could not quite catch up, and in this manner were enticed far out to sea, and with night falling on heavy seas, they were lost. The keg of alcohol might have been opened by the mate or one of the crew of the Dei Gratia, when they were inspecting their prize.

Once free, the Mary Celeste free. In the meanwhile, the hatch cover was removed and the hold and cargo inspected for any possible damage. The Captain, or mate, having use for a little alcohol, took some with him and left the hatch open for ventilation. The ship's company then rowed ashore to indulge in a little recreation, the Captain taking instruments and papers for safe keeping. Something now happened to distract their attention from the predicament they were in.

Seeking fresh water, fowl, -ruit, or vegetables, the time passed quickly, and the flow of the tide, helped by an offshore breeze, floated the Mary Celeste free, before the shallow grooves cut along each side of her bows, at a height from the bed of the shallows sufficient to accommodate the timber. Speed being necessary, both grooves were cut at the same time. In the tool kit, there would be no two chisels of the same size, so one man used a l1, 4-inch chisel and the other man a 1. The ends of the props were then pushed down to the sea bottom, the top ends biting into the groove, thus insuring an upright position for the ship. This being successfully accomplished, there was nothing to do now but wait until the flow of the tide floated her could not get off.

Knowing that if his ship keeled over as the tide ebbed, the cargo would be displaced, and other damage occur, the Captain sought some system of props by which she could be kept on an even keel. Hav- of the crew of the Dei Gratia. I will tell you his story as nearly as I can remember it. He claimed the disaster to i 'New York Is All Right f7) By Frank Condon TIKE everybody else in the notices, when he begins play J- world, I have felt the de ing bridge in Manhattan, is pression and am now down to that all present are sipping largely riding on the rim. I stand like a person who is going to make a mistake directly.

The Requirements. But the point is that a person does not have to be a top-notch golfer to get in and ride son why Californians should leave devotees at anywhere from a tenth to five cents a point, depending upon the lateness of the hour and the potency of the rum. The five-cents-a-point game generally Since I departed from dear old California and came to New Tork, my pet bank with all its It should be borne in mind that New Yorkers are warmhearted, famous for their hospitality, and throw their money around carelessly. They are always glad to welcome California visitors, who should try to arrive in the Spring months, at least until we get around the corner. (Copyright, 1932, by Frank Condon) lovely onyx pillars was sud from tall glasses.

This has its effect about 15 minutes after 11, when a bridge player present who has said nothing all evening, suddenly bids four spades out of a clear sky, when he should not have bid four spades, or. denly seized by rigor mortis begins at three in the morning, when some suffering soul ind the sheriff, and there is a ign on the front door saying, "Not to be opened till Christ mas." They tell me women on the spring money in New York and environs. All that any needy wayfarer requires is a one-way ticket from California to Gotham, dated April tenth, and after that, it is merely a matter of your own personal avarice, or how much cash you will need to run you through the summer. This is indeed useful in could be seen crying on the BUSY AIR LINE. streets, and the only reason I vas not seen crying on the is sixty-five dollars out.

There is no open season on contract. It run throughout the year. I do not foi- minute contend that we Westerners play contract bridge better than New Yorkers, but as everyone knows, Californians are a race of total abstainers and drink nothing but ginger ale, pop, charged water and orange juice. We scarcely ever taste 'streets with the ladies is that 1 was installed in a New York iotel and did not even know Indeed, any spades. By taking bridge lessons during the winter months at home, and playing contract in the Spring with some Jolly crowd of hard-drinking New Yorkers, and waiting quietly until they are vulnerable and bid four no-trumps without any hearts in either hand, the California visitor can readily take down from thirty to forty dollars nightly.

my bank's disaster. However, I am the kind that New York. The airways between Boston and New York are being burned up by an increasing number of planes that are being added to air lines. One transport company has announced the addition of two daily trips to its lines, making a total of eight daily between the two cities. formation for Californians to know and remember, while we are waiting as a nation to turn one of the toughest corners we have yet encountered.

Followers of the great game who idle away their time at home, highballs and cocktails, which iomplalns very little in times jf distress, for there is a bet-fcr day ahead, and I carry my i makes us a sober people, and the first thing a native son staying there year in and year wn silver lining. I am formate indeed to live in sunny outhern California, where ffature is at its fairest, where ihe breeze is ever fragrant and toothing and the scent of roses nd orange blossom allays the out, gouging each other, make a grave error, when there is so much easy money floating COLORFUL SCENES AT OPENING OF GREAT IMPERIAL TRADE CONFERENCE 'h 7 VWl: V.M-V Urn loose in New York. Furthermore, times are hard in Cali fornia and three dollars is larried soul. I live out there in the heart the lemon and golf groves, considered a plunge. The old five, five and five days in the West have gone where the there a person can practise nd play the great national woodbine twlneth, but New feme every day in the year Yorkers forget the shortage, once they get into the car and fnd thus keep his shots down bids four spades out of a clear A bridge player who has said nothing all evening, suddenly sky, when he should not have bid four spades, or, indeed, any ihe fairway.

start for the course. As the season advances, Starting Out. 4 After I have played all win- there inevitably comes a day when the enterprise ceases to be profitable, usually around tr on my home course, San abriel, arriving on the tenth June 30. In June, I therefore April in time to join the i go home before the boys begin to hook me too hard. It is my erry metropolitan golfers, ho have been hard at work 'V 'ftffl uf'i -A ixA llmk Utiw My, 1 I Wi mf TO VfcW mrf, i i FtiW'v i I 'i r' 'at 5 A -i I JL 1 Si H- ItiS 'J, 5 ,,,4, I 'i money to be made by any Cal-ifornian who will come East in April and join the pastime.

This income is not large or impressive, but it is steady, and is not to be sneezed at in these rough times, especially as the government will never know your weekly receipts. It is probably the only form of tax-exempt income in America today. The secret of the matter lies in the firm, unshakable and bets, five, five and five, or sometimes ten, ten and ten at the very beginning of his new season, when his eye is so dull and his swing so creaky that he could not hit the Inside of a box car with a handful of caviar. And that is why I say there is a bright side to everything, no matter how somber the outlook, and California golf players should not feel downcast as long as the New York season opens in April spades. Bobby Jones well, if you can conjure up anything nicer than that, you may have the large piece of cake with the frosting.

It is not that I am proud of my own golf game, or that it is a spectacle of purest ray serene. I play a moody game of golf. Nobody has hung any medals on me for my iron shots to the green, or my long, curling putts, which just miss the cup by six feet. Mine is the sort of game that a pro asks his pupil to watch carefully, so that he will never slap at a ball that way. I can perform feats with an ordinary golf club that would baffle Houdini and mystify even Joe ai winter ana are now eager polish up the golf clubs and nture forth among the Jers.

I love to play with these ifreerful fellows, for their $ring-time enthusiasm is (Dntagious. They have such a lendid time during the first mistaken belief of the New and the trains continue to weeks of the season's golf. xorK goner mat ne is just as: run. custom to play with athletes who are better golfers than I am, as I would scarcely ever get a game if I waited to play with golfers who are not as good as I am. Golfers who are worse than I am have long since quit the pastime and are working on backgammon.

So the New York gentlemen feel certain they canunce me, and eventually, in late June, they hit their stride, and I likewise hit the highway for good old California to conserve profits. This has led to def-1 inite criticism of my method, and when Ja New York golfer critizes yoji, you do not need They beam and slap each her on the back in the lock- rooms. Some have not met ice the preceding October or ov ember. Everything is good, just as accurate and just as relaxed a player, after a winter in his hot office, as he was the preceding autumn when the snows drove him off the course. This deluded fellow, coming out of his hole, will joyously bet you fifteen dollars that he can beat you.

He recalls how good he was If you can imagine anything softer than playing 18 holes, for money, with a trio of East-Coast golf bugs, who are so rusty that their joints squeak, whose hands are unsteady and whose clubs are still covered with winter stain; who have been cooped up during the bleak season and still "You are opening a new page of history to solve the difficulties welehinsr so heavilv frerry and bright and I confess now that I heartily enjoy upon the whole world" Those were the words of King George V. and above is the im le games with these happy ew Yorkers, for there is Kirkwood, who does trick shots for a living. I once lost a ball, not on the golf course, but In a passing meat cart. I have missed putts that no human being could miss and face society. My swing is faulty, and tealth and pleasant recreation pressive scene in the oak-carved House of Commons chamber at Ottawa, Canada, as the Earl of Bessborough, governor general, read the monarch's message formally opening the important Imperial Economic conference.

Ranged at the desks of members of Parliament were Canadian government leaders and delegates to the trade parley from all parts of the British empire. Galleries overlooking the chamber were thronged. them, and there is also a last year and how easily he believe they are flawless ath any more castlgatlon for six months. There is 'another good rea hirly steady income in cash defeated you last fall, so he letes, like Gene Sarazen and JL.

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