Talk:Mary Celeste

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I noticed something odd about the article. In one part it says there were blood stains along some rails and scratch marks but later it says no evidence of violence was found. Do we not count blood and scratch marks as hints/evidence of violence in this story?

Jaybrown27 10 October 2006


Hi!

I took the liberty of re-organizing the information into a more coherant article. In addition, I removed the heading which seemed to be rather messy in such a brief article. Ganymead 04:02, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

I think you forgot to remove the things you rewrote?

Thanks - I think that you removed some stuff that wasn't duplicated - if I'm wrong please let me know. Mark Richards 17:37, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I find the plot of The Wreck of the Mary Deare (book and movie) by Hammond Innes very similar to the Mary Celeste story. Jay 14:05, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)


After reading this article, I fail to see where the great mystery lies as it seems pretty straight-forward. Is the article not neutral in it's POV or are the occultist simply fools? Kristian (sorry, no registration for me)


Kristian: Exactly what happened is still unknown, as there were no verified survivors to tell the tale, and occultist claim anything unknown is tied to the spiritual. It is worth noting (and the article does) that it happened nowhere near the so-called "Bermuda Triangle" (another myth).

dino 03:05, 29 May 2005 (UTC)


Re OCCULTISTS. Yes, Kristian, as Dino correctly points out, it is worth noting that it happened nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle. But while it is true that the article duly informs us about this fact, it is also true that it fails abysmally to tell us where else it did not happen. After all it also happened nowhere near a lot of other places, among them very important and significant ones. Wouldn't these places deserve at least a mention in the article?
But I must say I am appalled to hear you compare occultists to simple fools. Fools? How can you only consider such a possibility? How can you only say such a thing? Where is your NPOV? I'm not surprised at all that you choose to remain anonymous. A wise choice indeed, if I may say so.--BZ(Bruno Zollinger) 09:14, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

While I will not defend anonymity, I will to a certain extent defend Kristian's post. He does not claim that occultists are fools, he just expresses the view that if the article is NPOV, he, as a reader, must conclude that occultists are fools. --- Anyway, the subject of this article is in itself unnotable; its notability comes from its impact on the imagination of Doyle (incidentally an occultist), and others.--Niels Ø 13:13, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

"However, Briggs, a New England Puritan, was known as a very religious, though just and fair, man." The use of the word "though" here is confusing and anti-religious to the reader.

  • I agree ... it confused me and I had to stop re-read that part, so it is being edited out now !!! DavidHumphreysSPEAK TO MEABOUTTHE THINGS I MESSED UP 06:15, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
It is meant to illustrate that Briggs was not a 'Jonathan Edwards-type' Puritan. If he were, he would have been like Capt. Bligh from the HMS Bounty. But he was NOT this type of fire and brimstone Puritan. He was very lovey-dovey.

Does anybody besides me feel that the following sentence is unencyclopedical? "Old sailors sometimes claimed that they had been aboard the Mary Celeste. Little credence is given to these stories." BJS 01 August 2006

The article states that the cargo was methanol. However, most sources claim, or imply, that it was ethanol. I would be most interested in knowing the source of the methanol claim as the nature of the cargo is of crucial importance in reconstructing what happened to the ship and her company. Thank you. Barend Vlaardingerbroek, Ph.D.


I'm going to remove the remark about methanol. The cargo was most likely ethanol, as methanol was much harder to produce back then. Even nowadays the "industrial alcohol" is just ethanol laced with some denaturant to stop people from drinking it. Methanol is usefull only when you use it as fuel and thus need the increased energy density.

Fizzl 09:42, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

No, 'Industrial alcohol' is ethanol. It can be denatured by adding methanol and other substances, like pyridine in order to prevent people drinking it and to avoid paying excise duty. However if you want to use alcohol in a chemical process you don't want crap in it. As the purpose of the alcohol was to fortify wine in Italy its safe to assume it was 95% ethanol with water.

--Gibnews 20:54, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Abel Fosdyk papers

For what it's worth, the Strand Magazine was a magazine that published fiction. --ForDorothy 00:01, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ergot

[edit] right spelling of the names

Hi, ich found out, that the brothers Volkert and Boy came from the same Island like me. The right spelling of their name has to be "Lorenzen". In the german wiki, they wrote that the brothers were dutch. But I think it`s the old problem that deutsch (german) is frequently confused with dutch. Does anybody knows how the two brothers were classified in the log? EnkiduBn 18.03.2007

I've read a theory that the slour on the ship may have been infected with ergot causing ergotism that caused the crew to abandon the ship. // Liftarn

which is nor supported by the fact that the remainder of the voyage to Italy was uneventful with a new crew and existing ships stores. --Gibnews 20:54, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Bermuda Triangle

I think the line: "No reasonable inquiry includes "Bermuda Triangle" speculation, as the ship's course would not have taken it through that area."

Should be changed to: "No reasonable inquiry includes "Bermuda Triangle" speculation."

Or, even better: "No reasonable inquiry includes "Bermuda Triangle" speculation, because the Bermuda Triangle doesn't [expletive deleted] exist."

Why do we have to burden an encyclopedia entry with anything that even remotely supports "woo-woo" theories such as the so-called "Bermuda Triangle?"

Just my $0.02... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 131.137.245.198 (talk) 12:12, 3 April 2007 (UTC). Oops... forgot to sign: Pinto66, Canada (accessing Wikipedia from work)