In New York, we found the boat was due to sail with the next tide. The mate told me I’d have to work, but that my companion could keep company with the captain’s wife and child. I wouldn’t be paid, and our names weren’t recorded on the ship’s log.When the next dawn rose, I climbed the mast to learn how to furl a sail. Wind whipped damp hair about my eyes when I looked down, and I saw her on the deck below, looking up at me and smiling. Then she pointed to the man in the crow’s nest and blew me a kiss.EpilogueA Crewless Ship?The Liverpool Globe's correspondent at Gibraltar writes: "There is a little vessel in this port whose recent history is even still more, mysterious than that of the Murillo, and, perhaps, similarly tragical to that of the Northdeet. The Mary Celeste, an American Brigantine, was fallen in with by a British vessel, some 400 miles East of the Azores, and brought by her to Gibraltar, on December 13. When discovered, she was under foremast staysail and jib, and under this light canvas she had been pursuing her way for ten days, without a soul on board, the last entry on the ship's log being on November 24. No other papers were found on board--manifest, bills of lading, every document which could have thrown any light upon the history of the derelict had been removed--and up to the present time, although the inquiry is still going on, not the slightest clue has been traced to account for the desertion of the vessel, and even, conjecture is at fault. The cargo, consisting of barrels of spirits, is untouched, with the exception of one cask, which had started. There are no signs of the vessel having suffered from bad weather, in any single respect. The most minute examinations have failed to detect any injury above the water or below it. A harmonium in the captain's cabin, and the music books, are all in their places and untouched by saltwater. A little phial of oil was still standing by a sewing machine, and a reel of cotton and thimble had not yet rolled off the table. Nor had the cabin been plundered for its contents, belonging to a lady and child, were of considerable value. A sword was in its scabbard, rusty, with drops of blood having been wiped off. There are marks like sharp cuts on the topgallant rail and on both sides of the vessel's bow, which appear to have been done on purpose. Whether this points to any act of violence, and with what motive committed--why the vessel was left under sail, or, in apparent, absence either of plunder or of peril, why she was ever deserted at all--is still an absolute mystery, for up to the present moment no trace has been found of the lady or child, of the captain, or of any one of the crew."
- The Daily Phoenix (Columbia, S. C.)March 19, 1873
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