THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
Sfi 
can suggest something more plausible, now 
remains to be seen. 
Mr. Barry Pain's solution is as follows : — 
Supernatural explanations are too easy to be satis- 
factory. Looking, then, for a natural explanation, 
it is clear that the crew and passengers of the brig 
did not leave her of their own free will or in pursuance 
of any plan of their own. What, then, was their motive 
for leaving ? Clearly it was fear. If they had been 
lured away by any kind of attraction, they would 
at least have finished breakfast first, and taken with 
them some of their personal belongings. They had 
tu go at once — on the moment — and they went because 
they were afraid. 
The idea that all thirteen of them went mad simul- 
taneously and jumped overboard asks too much of 
coincidence. They left in a boat, and it was not one 
of the boats belonging to the brig. Therefore that: 
boat came alongside the Marie Celeste , and contained 
in it the source of the terror which led to the abandon- 
ment of the brig. 
Of what nature was that terror ? There were no 
signs of any violent struggle. There was no bloodshed. 
But an unarmed man who lias a loaded revolver 
pointed at him does not struggle. lie does what he 
is told by the man who holds the gun. 
Let us now suppose that a ship, which we will call 
the “ A',” is engaged in some nefarious enterprise. 
The nature of the enterprise may be left to the imagina- 
tion — it does not matter. Fever breaks out on the 
“ AT,” and many of the crew die. There are not enough 
hands left to work the ship. The survivors arc in 
a desperate plight. They dare not signal for help, 
because their ship will not bear inspection. The 
“ X ” is well supplied in all ways except in men. 
The survivors must get men. 
Now, men were taken from the Marie Celeste, and 
nothing else, with the exception of the chronometer, 
was taken. The boat from the “ X ” came alongside 
the Marie Celeste , and the boat’s crew had a plausible 
story and showed every sign of friendliness. They 
went aboard the Marie Celeste, and they really had 
only eleven people to deal with. The woman and child 
that made up the thirteen could be neglected. Possibly 
those eleven w ere taken in sections. First of all, those 
of the crew who were on deck were terrorized by the 
revolvers and secured by ropes. Then those who were 
below were treated in a similar way. The human 
cargo was then removed by boat to tire “ A'." The 
chronometer was simply an after-thought. The 
survivors of the “ X ” had not come for chronometers, 
but for men. One of them happened to take a fancy 
to the chronometer. 
Several possibilities would account for the fact 
that not one of the crew or passengers of the Marie 
Celeste was ever seen again. They may have died 
of fever. The “ A" ” may have gone down with all 
hands. It is not beyond possibility that some of them 
may be alive even now. An honest man who has been 
compelled by fear to engage in dishonest work may 
feel that his character is lost, and may prefer not to 
disclose his identity. 
Mr. Morley Roberts writes : — 
I have thought of the Marie Celeste at intervals 
for thirty years, and have never vet made the wildest 
shot at a solution. The data are insufficient to draw 
any conclusion from. If we knew the history of 
everyone on board, something might be suggested. 
1 is, of course, easy enough to cook up a fictional 
hypothesis, but that is simply supplying the very facts 
we can’t get at. The explanation is almost certainly 
simpler than the problem, but more complex. 1 have 
sometimes thought it was a “ put-up ” job, arranged 
by the Captain for some reason, and his plan went 
wrong. Perhaps there was finance at the bottom of 
it. The fact that on analysis the notion of blood 
on the sword and woodwork was negatived makes 
what looks like a clue as vain as everything else. 
Mr. Horace Annesley Vachell thus explains 
the mystery : — 
I think, with the rest of the world, that one must 
dismiss as quite untenable the hypothesis of piracy 
or mutiny. Nothing would seem" to be left but the 
occurrence of some absolutely unforeseen phenomenon, 
which caused every soul on board to jump overboard 
and perish. I conceive it possible that a submarine 
explosion, of a volcanic character, may have sent to 
the surface of the Atlantic some lethal gas lighter than 
water and heavier than air, whose fumes lingered 
together for an appreciable time. The ship sailed 
into this noxious zone. The effect of the gas may have 
excited madness and a raging thirst, a desire for water 
at any cost. One imagines the watch on deck to be 
affected first. One piercing scream would have 
alarmed those in the cabin and forecastle. The mate, 
realizing that something terrific had happened, may 
have seized the chronometer to note the exact time, 
or the instrument may have been in his hand at the 
moment, a more probable conjecture. The captain 
may have seized the ship’s papers, sensible that a 
Catastrophe was impending. In any case he rusl ed 
on deck, followed by the mate, the woman, and the 
child. At the same moment the rest of the crew 
appeared from the forecastle. The gas affected them 
instantly. Each became raving mad, and plunged 
into the sea, which swallowed them and their secret 
Any attack by man or beast, must have left some trace, 
and we are told that tire stains on cutlass and wains- 
cot were not those of blood. Whatever happened 
must have taken place with almost incredible swiftness. 
The ship’s company must have perished instantly. 
How ? Suicide alone explains this wholesale slaughter 
which left no trace. Suicide by a crew possessed 
of sudden madness. No poison taken with their food 
could act so simultaneously and swiftly. The poison, 
therefore, must have been administered by Nature in 
one overwhelming dose. Are there gases in Nature’s 
laboratories which might create madness and raging 
thirst ? If so, are such gases of the nature of carbonic 
acid gas heavy enough to lie upon the face of the 
waters till dissipated and weakened by atmospheric 
changes ? Perhaps the calmness of the weather, 
a dead smooth sea, hardly any wind, and so forth, 
caused the escaping fumes to hold together for a few 
minutes. I am no chemist, and make these con- 
jectures at hazard. 
Finally, Mr. Arthur Morrison has cast his 
solution into the form of a little story. 
The name of Joseph Hallers, A.B., had been “ signed 
on ” for ship after ship, about which vessels, however, 
the man was never called anything but “ Holy Joe,” 
or “ Old Swede-bug.” He was an enormous creature, 
with almost disproportionately enormous hands and 
arms, and a seaman of known efficiency and trust- 
worthiness, whose discharge papers never varied, 
lie had his abnormality, however, and owed his 
nicknames thereto. He was a religious crank. This 
is not a peculiarity unknown among sailors, but “ Holy 
foe ” was of an unusual type— he was a Swedenborgian, 
and a translation of Emanuel Swedenborg’s “ Heavenly 
