Mary Celeste Ship-Related Book and Treatise 1800’s. This book is titled “A Treatise on the Law of Shipping”, written by Henry Flanders and published by T. & J.W. Johnson in Philadelphia in 1853, it’s a rare book about laws related to maritime shipping, and possibly much more than that. The book is also signed by Captain B. A. Briggs from Marion, Mass, who may also have been related to the captain aboard the ill-fated Mary Celeste that was found abandoned at sea in the 1800’s. The captain of the Mary Celeste was Benjamin Spooner Briggs from Marion, Mass, and it is quite a coincidence that the book is signed by someone from Marion with the same title and initials and last name. For those who don’t know the story of the Mary Celeste, she was a merchant ship found abandoned, drifting slowly off the coast of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles from Portugal, entirely intact, with no crew on board whatsoever, on December 4, 1872, and no one knows where the crew went, and since it was discovered, the fate of the Mary Celeste has been the subject of much speculation. Some theorize that mutiny may have played a role in the vessel’s abandonment or that natural phenomena such as earthquakes or storms caused the crew to go missing. One hundred and fifty years later, descendants of the ship’s captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs (1835 - 1872), gathered together to celebrate the legacy of the lost ship, and they have a different theory: according to Nathan Briggs Hope, an unofficial family historian who traveled from Georgia to be together with the family, the ship had a cargo of 1700 casks of commercial alcohol, and fumes released by the casks could have played a role in the crew’s disappearance. The ship left New York City for Genoa on November 7, Briggs was on board with his wife and two-year old daughter Sophie Matilda, and Nathaniel believes Briggs and his family and crew took refuge from the fumes on a lifeboat tied behind the ship, somehow the rope tied to the ship came apart or got dislodged, and from then on, said Hope, the truth would remain unknown. A captain himself, Hope had sailed the seas around the Azores and knew how hazardous they could be. “In those seas, having 11 people in one lifeboat was a real burden on the lifeboat,” said Hope. “Going through any kind of seas pulled by something like the Mary Celeste … the [rope] parted and the lifeboat probably [got] swamped”. The ship that discovered her found the Mary Celeste in seaworthy condition, under partial sail, but papers were strewn about and her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated November 25 and indicated the voyage was uneventful, and she still had ample provisions when found. Her cargo of alcohol was intact, the personal belongings of the captain and crew were undisturbed, the impression of a sleeping child remained in the infant’s crib, and no sign of the crew or the Briggs family was ever found. So they were presumed lost, no one on board was ever seen or heard from again, and the fate of all aboard remains a mystery. The book itself is a first edition, according to WorldCat. The book has four raised bands, a red label with gilt lettering on the spine, leather boards, blank endpapers, the inscription of “Capt. B.A. Briggs, Marion [Mass.]” on the front flyleaf, a half-title, then the title page, the copyright page is dated 1853, which normally makes this a first edition as well (the dates on the title page and copyright page match, with no other printings), a one-page Preface, four pages of Contents, ten pages of a Table of Cases that support the legal findings in the treatise (xxi - xxx), 543 pages of text, and an Index that runs to page 580. The book measures 9 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. wide, the pages are bound tightly, the text is remarkably clean, with just a few brown spots in the margins here and there, but the book has wear, the leather is worn and has scuffs, there is separation along the edges of the spine, the spine has faded, there is browning and wear on the endpapers, occasional dampstains, the signature “Capt. B. A. Briggs, Marion” is somewhat faded, but clearly visible, and the book is absolutely worth it. Not only is it rare - we found only one copy offered online on the rare book website we use - but the signature of Captain Briggs is clearly connected to Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, we just don’t know how. And questions remain - who was Capt. B. A. Briggs, was he related to Benjamin Spooner Briggs, and what happened to the Mary Celeste, the mystery ship that was found drifting off the coast of the Azores in 1872 all by itself. Was it a ghost ship or a mystery ship? Does anyone have any clues? We also checked the genealogical records of the Briggs family and could find no immediate family member with the name or initials “B.A. Briggs”. Can anyone in the Briggs family help us out? There are chapters on the seaworthiness of a vessel, the authority of the master, offenses committed at sea, duties in times of war, and much more, so the Treatise itself has value, and the signature seems to make it more valuable, as we drift around looking for answers. The consignor and the consignor’s family grew up in Marion, Mass. and knew the Briggs family - they even played with the kids in the Briggs family when they were young - a shout-out from Andrew to Scotty Briggs - and what a small world. #162 #1611