MARION — In 1872, the merchant ship Mary Celeste was found abandoned off the coast of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. 

One hundred and fifty years later, descendants of the ship’s captain, Benjamin Briggs, gathered in a Marion home last Saturday to remember the history of the lost vessel. 

The Briggs family originally lived in Rose Cottage, which was demolished to create Rose Cottage Lane after a fire in 1961. David Briggs, 92, is the oldest member of the Briggs family, and as the great nephew of the Mary Celeste’s captain, has the closest connection to the ship and to the old family home. 

People outside the family are often captured by the myth surrounding the ill-fated vessel and find themselves drawn to the mystery, according to Celeste Fowles Nguyen, who wrote her undergraduate thesis on the history of the boat. 

Since it was discovered in 1872, the Mary Celeste’s fate has been the subject of speculation. Some theorized 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. 

More outlandish takes like an alien abduction or an attack by a giant squid also make the rounds. 

However, most of Briggs’ descendants believe a more grounded theory. According to Nathan Briggs Hope, an unofficial family historian who traveled from Georgia to celebrate the lost ship’s legacy, fumes released by 1,500 casks of industrial alcohol carried aboard the vessel could have played a role in the crew’s disappearance. 

He believes Briggs and others on board the ship took refuge from the fumes on a lifeboat tied behind the larger ship. From then on, said Hope, the truth would remain unknown. 

However, a captain himself, Hope has sailed the seas around the Azores and knows how hazardous they can 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 swamped.”

But even though the mystery of the Mary Celeste is important to this long-lived family, what’s more important is having a reason to get together. 

According to Dale Allison, who hosted the event, the family does not often gather for reunions. In 2004, they celebrated the 100th anniversary of Allison’s Marion home. Regardless of the occasion, bringing the family together from as far away as Minneapolis and the West Coast is its own reward.