The mystery of the Mary Celeste... solved?

ABC Radio National

Posted 25 Jun 2015, updated 26 Jun 2015

A painting of Mary Celeste as Amazon in 1861 (possibly by Honore Pellegrin (1800–c.1870)/ Slate magazine. 

Licensed under Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

More than 140 years after the crew of the Mary Celeste vanished without a trace, Aden Rolfe has recreated their fateful voyage in A Thoroughly Wet Mess, an eight-part tale of mystery, confusion and flirtation on the high seas.

Here’s what we know. On November 5, 1872, the Mary Celeste left New York, loaded with raw alcohol, bound for Genoa. There were seven crew members aboard, as well as Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and their two-year-old daughter. The ship may or may not have had a yawl—that is, a rowboat that could double as a lifeboat—lashed over the main hatch.

No matter how you look at it, though, you find yourself confounded by the contradiction at the heart of the mystery; a captain only ever abandons a ship if there’s no other option.

A month later, on December 4, the Celeste was found drifting near the Azores, an autonomous group of islands off the coast of Portugal. The sails were run down or blown away, the hatches open, the cabins full of water. There was a sword on the deck, as well as what appeared to be bloodstains. Nine of the barrels in the hold were empty. If there had been a yawl, there wasn’t one anymore. Presumably it went the way of the crew, along with the ship’s papers, instruments and logbooks—in short, anything that might have told us where they went or why.

All that was left was a slate log, which is an hourly record of bearing, speed and wind. The last entry suggested that the ship was abandoned 10 days prior, near the island of Santa Maria.

So what happened? What led a respected, experienced captain and his trusted crew to abandon a seaworthy ship?

These are the questions that underpin A Thoroughly Wet Mess. Each of the eight episodes features the (fictional) descendants of the original captain, owner and crew of the Mary Celeste positing different theories as to what happened to their ancestors. They do this while aboard a replica of the brigantine, recreating that infamous voyage. What could possibly go wrong?

Engraving by Rudolph Ruzicka of the Mary Celeste as she was found by the Dei Gratia.

The answer, of course, is everything. Not long after boarding the Mary Celeste II the protagonists, Sophie and Marc, realise that things are not what they seem. Between the mysterious page slipped through their door and whatever the captain’s hiding in the cargo hold, they find themselves at the centre of a twofold mystery. If they can solve the events of the present, will they unlock the secrets of the past? Or will they succumb to the same fate as their ancestors?

The series takes place entirely aboard the replica ship, with flashbacks to the original vessel, playing on the apparent simplicity of the Mary Celeste mystery. It’s this simplicity that still captivates amateur sleuths 140 years later; ten people disappeared, but the ship was unscathed. If the answer’s anywhere, it’s on those hallowed decks. Like a locked room puzzle or a lateral thinking question, it’s just about looking at it from the right angle.

What’s interesting is that a number of the more plausible solutions can be dismissed on evidence, while some of the more outlandish possibilities are difficult to disprove. Piracy, for instance, is typically disregarded because neither the passengers’ valuables nor the ship’s cargo were pilfered, while it’s hard to say for certain that a giant squid didn’t pluck the crew members one by one from the deck. Or that aliens didn’t do much the same thing. Or that the ship didn’t get beached on a sand bank in the middle of the Atlantic, thereby enticing the crew to disembark and explore it, only to have the temporary island recede, drowning the hapless group.

No matter how you look at it, though, you find yourself confounded by the contradiction at the heart of the mystery; a captain only ever abandons a ship if there’s no other option, if he and his charges are in grave danger. Yet whatever danger Captain Briggs thought was about to befall them, it never came to pass. After they deserted the ship, she managed to sail herself unaided for some 278 miles, over 10 days, without sinking or exploding or passing through a wormhole.

It’s these details that have helped usher the Mary Celeste from mystery into myth, inspiring writers and dramatists for a century and a half. Before he created Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle provided a possible ‘solution’ to the mystery in his short story, J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement. Detailing the hijacking of the ship by a black liberationist, Doyle’s story was intended as fiction; its anonymous publication, however, led many to take it as fact.

The uncertainty Doyle was able to create, despite spelling the name of the ship incorrectly—Marie rather than Mary—and changing dates and details to suit his storytelling, laid the groundwork for more audacious hoaxes, such as Abel Fosdyk’s Story and the accurately named Great Mary Celeste Hoax, both presented as true accounts of survivors.

More fun than these are the unashamed fictions, like The Goon Show’s take—‘The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (Solved)’— which, like A Thoroughly Wet Mess, also features a replica Mary Celeste.

So where does A Thoroughly Wet Mess fit in the lineage of Mary Celeste stories? Does it present a genuine solution to the mystery or is it just another tale fuelled by the myth? There’s only one way to find out...

Episode one begins on Radiotonic on Friday, June 26, 2015 at 11am.

First published at ABC News RN, June 25, 2015, updated June 26

Sir Christopher Lee: Screen legend dies aged 93

Actor Christopher Lee on the red carpet in Rome in 2009. (Reuters: Tony Gentile)

Sir Christopher Lee, the veteran actor and star of many of the world's biggest film franchises, has died aged 93.

The English-born actor, who made his name playing Dracula and Frankenstein's monster in the Hammer horror films, appeared in more than 250 movies.

He was best-known for his villainous roles - including Scaramanga in James Bond and evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings.

The actor's other credits include The Wicker Man and Star Wars.

The actor is reported to have died on Sunday at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London, after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure.

A Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said: "We can confirm that the Register Office issued a death certificate for Mr Christopher Lee on Monday 8 June, Mr Lee died on Sunday 7 June."

He was knighted in 2009 for services to drama and charity and was awarded a Bafta fellowship in 2011.

One of the first to pay tribute was James Bond actor Roger Moore, who tweeted: "It's terribly [sad] when you lose an old friend, and Christopher Lee was one of my oldest. We first met in 1948."

His Lord Of The Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan said: "So, so sorry to hear that Christopher Lee has passed away. He was a fascinating person."

Sir Christopher also worked with director Tim Burton on five films including Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Burton described him as "an enormous inspiration".

"The great, always criminally underrated Sir Christopher Lee has left us," actor and writer Mark Gatiss tweeted.

 "A Titan of Cinema and a huge part of my youth. Farewell."

George Lucas, who directed Sir Christopher in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, said: "Christopher was a great British actor of the old school. A true link to cinema's past and a real gentleman. We will miss him."

Actor Reece Shearsmith called him "an amazing gentleman who brought us so many iconic roles. He will be missed."

Broadcaster Jonathan Ross said: "So sad to hear that Sir Christopher Lee has died. A great actor, a great star, a surprisingly good singer and a lovely, lovely man."

Writer Neil Gaiman said he was "so lucky and proud" to have had Lee in the cast of BBC Radio 4's recent dramatisation of Neverwhere. "Great actor, great loss," he tweeted.

"We are deeply saddened to hear that Sir Christopher Lee has passed away," the British Film Institute (BFI) said.

Monster roles

Born into affluence in London in 1922, Sir Christopher traced his lineage to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor.

After public school he served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War, where he was mentioned in dispatches.

His screen career began when he joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their so-called "charm school".

The actor spent 10 years filling smaller roles before signing with Hammer films

It was his association with British studio Hammer that made him a household name, playing characters such as Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy and Dracula in the late 1950s.

Sir Christopher would go on to reprise the trademark vampire role in a number of sequels, before finally laying him to rest in the 1970s.

He appeared in 1976's To the Devil a Daughter, the last horror movie of Hammer's original era, but returned to the Hammer stable for its 21st Century relaunch in 2011's The Resident, which starred Hilary Swank.

His 6ft 4in frame and pointed features often typecast him as a bad guy. His distant cousin Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books, wanted him to play Dr No in the film of the same name - but that role went to Joseph Wiseman.

Lee eventually starred as Scaramanga in 1974's The Man With The Golden Gun.

He also played Fu Manchu in a series of films in the 1960s.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Star Wars prequels - in which he played the nefarious Count Dooku - were the most successful films of his career from a commercial standpoint.

He also demonstrated his versatility in comedies like 1941 and Gremlins 2.

His other films included 1959's The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Three Musketeers (1973), and Jinnah - which he considered to be one of his most important films (1997).

The actor was awarded a Bafta fellowship in 2011, and posed with his wife of 54 years, Brigit

"I've appeared in so many films that were ahead of their time - some of them were very good," the actor told the BBC News website in 2001. "Some weren't."

A lover of opera, Sir Christopher launched his singing career in the 1990s, with an album of Broadway tunes, including I Stole The Prince from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, and Epiphany from Sweeney Todd.

He also enjoyed an unlikely heavy metal career. In 2010, his album Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross won a Spirit of Metal Award from Metal Hammer magazine.

He marked his 92nd birthday by releasing an album of heavy metal cover versions.

First published at BBC News, June 12, 2015