In the same year the school was built ...................
A meteor burst over the "Sevenstones" light-vessel, 1872
THE SCILLY ISLANDSA meteor burst over the "Sevenstones" light-vessel, 1872, November 13th, 2 a.m., moored about 9½ miles E. by N. of the Scilly Islands...and the deck was covered with cinders.
Extract from "A Chapter in the history of Meteorites" by Walter Flight who quotes R. Allen. Proc. Royal Soc., xxi. 122. as a reference.
A letter, addressed by the Secretary of the Corporation of the Trinity House to the President of the Royal Society, states that at the above hour a meteor burst over the "Sevenstones" light-vessel, moored about 9½ miles E. by N. of the Scilly Islands. The watch were struck senseless for a short period, and on recovery they observed "balls of fire falling in the water like splendid fireworks," while the deck was covered with cinders, "which crushed under the sailors' feet as they walked." The writer states that the "cinders" were, there is reason to fear, all washed off the decks by the rain and sea before daylight. Miss Carne, of Penzance, and Mr. Talling, of Lostwithiel, to whom I applied for information, did not succees in obtaining any further details respecting the remarkable occurrence. Back to top
The Marie Celeste
The Marie CelesteIn November 1872 the Marie Celeste set sail from New York bound for Italy. A brigantine of some 200 tons, the ship was captained by Benjamin Briggs, a man who name was soon to become synonymous with bad luck at sea and ill-fated vessels.
On 5th December, Captain Morehouse of the Dei Gratia sighted her drifting about 500 miles east of the Azores, her decks empty and silent. A boarding party was sent to investigate and they confirmed that the Marie Celeste was completely deserted. It seemed as if a hasty desertion of the vessel had taken place because since the chronometer and ship's sextant were both gone. A bloody sword was also discovered hidden under Captain Briggs' bed and the hold was filled with about 3 feet of salt water (though no leaks were ever found). Morehouse managed to take the Marie Celeste as far as Gibraltar where they docked 8 days later.
The official enquiry into the incident concluded that the ship was completely seaworthy at the time of her abandonment and that there was no reasonable explanation for the disappearance of the crew. Needless to say, rumours were rife about what had really happened on board the ship. A story circulated about the cargo of alcohol and how the crew had tampered with it , murdering the captain and his family while intoxicated. Other suggestions included the charge that Briggs had been involved in an elaborate plan to defraud the insurers of the ship.
Speculation continued for years, obviously having caught the public imagination, and this interest prompted the mergence of "survivors". One story appeared in the British press, written by a Mr. J. Hababkuk Johnson who claimed to have been a passenger on board the Marie Celeste at the time of her desertion. He stated that a fellow passenger had hijacked the ship and set about murdering the crew. Eventually it transpired that Mr. Johnson was a ficticious creation of the illustrious author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the whole story had been fabricated.
In 1913 another tale started to circulate, this time involving an individual called Abel Fosdyke who was allegedly a member of the ship's crew. He asserted that the vessel had encountered bad weather and that Briggs had suffered a nervous breakdown. According to Fosdyke, the captain had taken to swimming alongside the ship and competing against members of the crew in a sort of race. While this event took place, the rest of the crew and Briggs' family would gather on the quarterdeck to view the proceedings. Unfortunately, one day the deck collapsed and everyone plunged into the sea. Fosdyke was the only survivor of a shark attack and was washed up eventually on the shores of Africa.
The most likely explanation for what happened aboard the Marie Celeste is that the crew abandoned their ship. They could have thought that she was sinking and decided to evacuate only to discover that she wasn't and were unable to get back to her. Rumours about the crew getting drunk do not ring true since the cargo was raw alcohol, the taste of which would have been appalling. It is, however, extremely volatile and the cargo might have shown signs of exploding, causing the crew to panic.
As for the Marie Celeste, well she lived on for seven more years until she finally drifted onto the reefs at Haiti, spilling her cargo of beer. Back to top