Episode 24: The Mary Celeste

The sea is full of mysteries

We’ve all heard about  the well known fact that we know less about our oceans than we do about outer space.

Most mysteries at sea can be debunked to superstition and folklore, but there are some stories that remain a enigma, puzzling the brightest of minds.

In episode 19 we talked about the Bermuda Triangle, and while it is still an odd cluster of tragic events, we can look at the science behind it and understand that the phenomena surrounding that area might not actually be so confounding.

Other mysteries include tales of underwater crop circles, disappearing submarines, and the controversial Yonaguni Monument, something we will talk about in episodes to come.

My favorite sea mysteries though, are the ones of lost ships.

Maybe that’s a bit odd coming from a sailing background, but the tales of ghost ships have always fascinated me.

On the 14th of December in 1872 the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette reported that The Mary Celeste, a ship bound from New York for Genoa carrying a cargo of alcohol was found derelict at sea.

The gazette reported three men of the ship dei Gratia brought her in to shore after finding her near the Azores.

Further details appeared in the same paper two days later, when the paper reported The Mary Celeste brigantine was in the possession of the Admiralty Court. 

SHOW NOTES:

00 Mysteries at Sea

1:15 The Building of the Flor de La Mar

3:45 The Flor De la Mar’s Lost Treasure

7:06 The Mary Celeste is Discovered off of the Azores

8:04 The reports go wild

10:02 The Inquiry of the Mary Celeste

12:30 Theories on the Mary Celeste

14:30 The Mary Celeste’s Final Voyage 

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If you’re from the coastal American south, the days of June 1 to November 30th sit a little differently than the rest.

For over 60 million Americans, they live in an area that is vulnerable to one of the greatest forces of mother nature, the hurricane.

The end of November marks the end of hurricane season in the South East United States and the Carribbean.

The recent hurricane Nichole is among the latest in the season of hurricanes to touch land in Florida, the next one closest being hurricane Kate in 1985.

And though it may be time to put away the storm shutters - the towns breathe a sigh of relief as another storm has passed with minimal damage compared to what could be wreacked by a direct hit.

And some are giving homage to someone who they believe protects st. Augustine from a direct hit of a storm.

Ever since I was a little girl, there has been a tale of a force who watches over saint augustine.

This force protects the town, supposedly preventing the eye of the hurricane from coming directly on the town.

Either because of local folklore, Spanish Superstition, catholic hope, or religious miracle, the hurricane lady has lived in St. Augustine for over 150 years, allegedly ensuring the safety of the residents.

SHOW NOTES:

:00 HURRICANE SEASON & AMERICANS IMPACTED

:30 HURACAN

:55 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’S FIRST HURRICANE REPORT

1:20 HURRICANE SUPERSTITIONS

3:30 LATEST HURRICANES

4:00 A FORCE MUJER

5:30 THE SHIP FACES A STORM

6:00 LIGHTEN THE LOAD

6:20 THE UNKNOWN BOX

4:40 THE UNKNOWN SAINT

7:13 PRAYING FOR SAFETY

7:45 THE STORM SUBSIDES

7:45 THE HURRICANE LADY

8:00 VISITING THE HURRICANE LADY

8:42 SEAFARING CULTURE SUPERSTITIONS

9:21 HURRICANE LADY ORIGINS

10:40 SUPERSTIATION SAFE

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EPISODE 22: LIMINAL LIGHTHOUSES

By all intents and purposes, a lighthouse should represent hope. They light the way to safety, and present a safe harbour. But they also are reaped in solitude and often lie at the edge of danger. Even that though, could bring hope.

So what is it about lighthouses, then, that makes them such macabre places?  Lighthouses occupy the liminal spaces between land and the sea.

The rest often in the harshest of environments where humans shouldn’t really exist, and where normal rules of society do not prevail. There is no sense of start and stop in a lighthouse, just an endless rotation of light.

They are places of life and death, on the borders of tragedy and safety.  They are small confined spaces on the edge of the vast expanse of ocean. 

It takes a special kind of person to exist in this unearthly realm and it is the strangeness of this sliver of society that seems to offer such possibilities for intrigue and invention and an endless fascination with the darker side of the human psyche.  Lighthouse keeping is not a job for the faint-hearted. 

It requires long periods of loneliness, endurance and stress to keep the lamp burning and ships safe in conditions of extreme weather, dangerous hazards and geographic isolation.  It is no wonder that in reality some lighthouse keepers did not cope and went a bit mad. 

SHOW NOTES:

The Smalls Lighthouse

Seguin Island Lighthouse

Clipperton Island Lighthouse

The St. Augustine Lighthouse

The Pittee Children

The Man

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