ufo_data/bin/rr0/tran1872.md

- A very modern ship for its time, the *Iron Mountain*, 60 m long, 10 m wide, carrying 55 passengers plus crew, vanished in the Missouri (United States).

- The Mary Celeste found abandoned near the Azores, see images/MarieCeleste_300.jpg.
    
- **November 24th, 11am:** The
    *Dei Gratia*, a brigantine, cuts through the waters near the
    Azores when it encounters a seemingly helpless ship. The sea is
    calm. It is the British brigantine, the *Mary Celeste*, drifting
    slowly, all sails out. The *Dei Gratia* sends a boat and some
    men, who board the ship. The ship is deserted. An uneasiness
    takes hold of the new arrivals. Laundry is still drying on the
    deck and, in the cabin, teacups are still arranged, ready to be
    drunk. In the cabins, a small harmonium is open, with a sheet of
    music on the music stand. Children's toys are scattered on the
    floor and, in the captain's office, his gold watch is found. On a
    cushion, the imprint of a small child's head can be guessed. As
    no boat is missing, the sailors scan the sea in the hope of
    seeing a body or a head, floating, but in vain. No other ship
    was crossing in the area and yet, all these traces of abandonment
    are recent. Nothing is floating. It seems that the cabins had been
    abandoned in a hurry, the second of the *Dei Gratia*, Oliver
    Deveau, who boarded the *Mary Celeste*, would later declare. The
    crew seems to have acted in panic. The men had indeed left their
    personal possessions, that is to say that their clothes were
    still in their place\... Nothing is missing, not even their pipes,
    one of which is still warm and smoking, so dear to any sailor.<br/><br/>The
    captain was accompanied by his wife and daughter. A half-hemmed
    skirt is still engaged on the table of a sewing machine. Only the
    chronometer, the sextant and the logbooks, including the
    nationality certificate, are missing. Only a cat emits faint
    meows and it is neither hungry nor scared. The cargo --- 1700
    barrels of raw alcohol --- has not been touched. The total value
    of the boat and its cargo is estimated at around 8500 £. Traces
    of boarding with something are found on the *Mary Celeste*:
    grooves from a cutting instrument, *on both sides* and a few feet
    from the bow, about fifty centimeters above the flotation, are
    judged to be very recent, and not due to the action of time. A
    deep cut is also found on the starboard railing. Oliver Deveau
    declared that he had no idea of the origin of this cut. Near this
    cut, brown spots are found on the deck, directly above, seeming
    to have been caused by blood. It is then suspected that Captain
    Moorehouse, of the *Dei Gratia*, and his crew, had massacred the
    crew of the brigantine in order to receive the reward for any
    discovery of a drifting wreck and its contents.<br/><br/>However, the
    report of the doctor who performed an analysis from the blood
    spots remained in a sealed envelope and was not revealed until 14
    years later (which did not prevent the suspects from being
    prosecuted on mere presumptions). The doctor, Doctor Patron,
    declared to have removed with a pair of scissors several brown
    red spots, thick 1 mm and about 1 cm in diameter, on the deck
    and on the railing. After these negative experiments, I feel
    authorized to conclude that, in the current state of our
    scientific knowledge, there is no blood, neither in the spots
    found on the deck of the *Mary Celeste*, nor in those found on
    the blade of the sword I examined. The origin of these brown red
    spots is not revealed. A sword is found, covered with the same
    brown spots. In the bosun's cabin, on his table, there is a
    slate where the temperature, the time, the notes of the dial
    were written: November 24th, 11am, 36° north latitude, 27° west
    longitude, fine weather. A line passed, one can read: Strange,
    my dear wife..

-   **December 7th, 1am:** In King's Sutton, Banbury (Great Britain), an object resembling a haystack flies in an irregular trajectory. Sometimes at high altitude, sometimes very low, it is accompanied by fire and dense smoke. It produces the same effects as a tornado, causing trees and walls to fall, then suddenly disappears. [\[Fort 189\]]{.source}