[Scenario Seed] The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering
Sept 25, 2015 13:34:42 GMT
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 25, 2015 13:34:42 GMT
Though it's far less well known that the Mary Celeste the mystery of the last voyage of the schooner Carroll A. Deering is perhaps even more intriguing.
The ship was a five-masted commercial schooner built in 1919 in Maine for the general cargo trade but lasted only a year in service before being discovered run aground on the Diamond Shoals, off Cape Hatteras in North Carolina on 31 January 1921. None of the twelve crew were on board and no trace of them has been found.
The final voyage began on 22 August 1920 when the ship left the port of Norfolk in Virginia carrying coal for Rio de Janeiro. However the illness of the captain (William Merritt) forced the ship to put into harbour in Lewes (in Delaware) where the captain and his son (who'd served as first mate) left the ship. After a replacement was found, and a first mate also hired, the ship set sail on 8 September. Also on board were ten crewman, most of them Danes.
The voyage to Rio was apparently uneventful and the ship discharged it's cargo there. On 2 December 1920 the Deering departed Rio heading for Hampton Roads via Bridgetown in Barbados.
At the stop in Barbados the crew were also given leave and there the first mate Charles McLellan got drunk and uttered threats against Captain Wormell in the presence of other sailors; this led to McLellan's arrest until Wormell persuaded the authorities to release him. Wormell complained to another old acquaintance (Captain Hugh Norton of the Augusta W. Snow) of the problems he'd been having with his first mate, describing him as brutal and a habitual drunk.
The men, and their ship, left Barbados on 9 January 1921.
The final sighting of the ship at sea was on 28 January 1921 when the vessel hailed Cape Lookout Lightship in North Carolina; a "thin man with reddish hair and a foreign accent" told the lightship's master that the vessel had lost its anchors. On 31 January 1921 the Deering was sighted aground on Diamond Shoals, an area notorious for shipwrecks. Due to poor weather rescue ships couldn't board the Deering until 4 February, when it was clear that the ship had been completely abandoned.
The ship's log and navigation equipment were gone, as were the belongings of the crew and the two lifeboats were gone. The galley appeared to have been abandoned rapidly, while a food was being prepared.
The Carroll A. Deering was scuttled, by the US Coast Guard, on 4 March as it was believed that it would become a danger to other vessels.
The Investigation.
The US government carried out a wide sweeping investigation into the disappearance of the crew of the Deering, involving five departments (Commerce, Justice, Navy, State and Treasury). Part of the reason for the extensive investigation was the previous losses of ships in the area over the previous months and the
Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, dispatched his confidential secretary Lawrence Ritchey, to run the investigation. However despite the efforts of Ritchey to try and map the course of the Deering the investigation remained mainly fruitless.
Theories.
Numerous theories were propounded about the missing crew; the most popular one initially was that the ship had been pirated. A Red Scare was in progress in the United States and there were rumours of Communist infiltrators and agents. It was alleged that the nascent Soviet government in Russia (newly victorious in the Civil War) was attempting to build its merchant marine by having agents hijack ships at sea. The Deering might have been stopped and boarded by Soviet pirates, or a Communist inspired mutiny might have taken the vessel.
Others speculated about the Deering being attacked by run runners or had been abandoned as part of an insurance fraud.
Probably the most likely explanation was a mutiny by the crew who them left in the ship's lifeboats; the fact that several heavy trunks of material were missing suggested that they had not gone in haste. Perhaps another ship was involved or the small boats were lost in the hurricanes that swept the Atlantic coast.
So far everything has been factual. Now for the wild speculation...
1. What was on board the Deering when it left Rio? Officially no cargo was loaded there for the return leg (the ship was originally supposed to pick up a cargo in Barbados but this didn't happen) but was the captain enticed, by payment, intimidation or mental influence to carry something? Something that was dangerous in it's own right or that someone wanted.
2. Likewise the ship wasn't supposed to carry passengers but some evidence was unearthed during the investigation that one was taken aboard in Rio. Who was he? Was he the reason for the disappearance of the crew, either killing them to cover his own presence or being killed or kidnapped by whatever was responsible for the ship's predicament.
3. The Bermuda Triangle is a bit hackneyed but the Deering did sail through it. Did the ship and the hapless crew encounter something from another world/time and flee in the lifeboats? Or was the ship transported elsewhere, only to return to Earth without them.
4. Did a group of aquatic reptiles (Sea Devils or Deep Ones for the Lovercraftian feel) attack the ship and then cover their tracks?
5. Were the eight other ships lost in the vicinity really all the victims of bad weather, or was this merely a government cover up.
6. Was the Deering caught in the temporal wake of another ship and then looted? Were the crew captured or killed?
More information on the incident.
The ship was a five-masted commercial schooner built in 1919 in Maine for the general cargo trade but lasted only a year in service before being discovered run aground on the Diamond Shoals, off Cape Hatteras in North Carolina on 31 January 1921. None of the twelve crew were on board and no trace of them has been found.
The final voyage began on 22 August 1920 when the ship left the port of Norfolk in Virginia carrying coal for Rio de Janeiro. However the illness of the captain (William Merritt) forced the ship to put into harbour in Lewes (in Delaware) where the captain and his son (who'd served as first mate) left the ship. After a replacement was found, and a first mate also hired, the ship set sail on 8 September. Also on board were ten crewman, most of them Danes.
- The new captain was one W. B. Wormell a formerly retired man of 66.
The voyage to Rio was apparently uneventful and the ship discharged it's cargo there. On 2 December 1920 the Deering departed Rio heading for Hampton Roads via Bridgetown in Barbados.
- The crew had several days of shore leave in Rio, the unloading of the bulk coal was a slow and messy process. Captain Wormell met an old friend and fellow captain there, a man by the name of Goodwin who was master of the Governor Brooks. Curiously that ship would be lost at sea also a few weeks later.
At the stop in Barbados the crew were also given leave and there the first mate Charles McLellan got drunk and uttered threats against Captain Wormell in the presence of other sailors; this led to McLellan's arrest until Wormell persuaded the authorities to release him. Wormell complained to another old acquaintance (Captain Hugh Norton of the Augusta W. Snow) of the problems he'd been having with his first mate, describing him as brutal and a habitual drunk.
The men, and their ship, left Barbados on 9 January 1921.
The final sighting of the ship at sea was on 28 January 1921 when the vessel hailed Cape Lookout Lightship in North Carolina; a "thin man with reddish hair and a foreign accent" told the lightship's master that the vessel had lost its anchors. On 31 January 1921 the Deering was sighted aground on Diamond Shoals, an area notorious for shipwrecks. Due to poor weather rescue ships couldn't board the Deering until 4 February, when it was clear that the ship had been completely abandoned.
The ship's log and navigation equipment were gone, as were the belongings of the crew and the two lifeboats were gone. The galley appeared to have been abandoned rapidly, while a food was being prepared.
The Carroll A. Deering was scuttled, by the US Coast Guard, on 4 March as it was believed that it would become a danger to other vessels.
The Investigation.
The US government carried out a wide sweeping investigation into the disappearance of the crew of the Deering, involving five departments (Commerce, Justice, Navy, State and Treasury). Part of the reason for the extensive investigation was the previous losses of ships in the area over the previous months and the
Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, dispatched his confidential secretary Lawrence Ritchey, to run the investigation. However despite the efforts of Ritchey to try and map the course of the Deering the investigation remained mainly fruitless.
- Richley did manage to eliminate one false lead; not long after the Deering ran aground a beachcomber by the name of Christopher Columbus Grey brought a message in a bottle to the Coast Guard. He claimed to have found the bottle washed up on the shore. The message ran: DEERING CAPTURED BY OIL BURNING BOAT SOMETHING LIKE CHASER. TAKING OFF EVERYTHING HANDCUFFING CREW. CREW HIDING ALL OVER SHIP NO CHANCE TO MAKE ESCAPE. FINDER PLEASE NOTIFY HEADQUARTERS DEERING. Ritchey proved that the message was a fake.The investigation was ended in late 1922 without an official finding on the incident.
Theories.
Numerous theories were propounded about the missing crew; the most popular one initially was that the ship had been pirated. A Red Scare was in progress in the United States and there were rumours of Communist infiltrators and agents. It was alleged that the nascent Soviet government in Russia (newly victorious in the Civil War) was attempting to build its merchant marine by having agents hijack ships at sea. The Deering might have been stopped and boarded by Soviet pirates, or a Communist inspired mutiny might have taken the vessel.
Others speculated about the Deering being attacked by run runners or had been abandoned as part of an insurance fraud.
Probably the most likely explanation was a mutiny by the crew who them left in the ship's lifeboats; the fact that several heavy trunks of material were missing suggested that they had not gone in haste. Perhaps another ship was involved or the small boats were lost in the hurricanes that swept the Atlantic coast.
So far everything has been factual. Now for the wild speculation...
1. What was on board the Deering when it left Rio? Officially no cargo was loaded there for the return leg (the ship was originally supposed to pick up a cargo in Barbados but this didn't happen) but was the captain enticed, by payment, intimidation or mental influence to carry something? Something that was dangerous in it's own right or that someone wanted.
2. Likewise the ship wasn't supposed to carry passengers but some evidence was unearthed during the investigation that one was taken aboard in Rio. Who was he? Was he the reason for the disappearance of the crew, either killing them to cover his own presence or being killed or kidnapped by whatever was responsible for the ship's predicament.
3. The Bermuda Triangle is a bit hackneyed but the Deering did sail through it. Did the ship and the hapless crew encounter something from another world/time and flee in the lifeboats? Or was the ship transported elsewhere, only to return to Earth without them.
4. Did a group of aquatic reptiles (Sea Devils or Deep Ones for the Lovercraftian feel) attack the ship and then cover their tracks?
5. Were the eight other ships lost in the vicinity really all the victims of bad weather, or was this merely a government cover up.
6. Was the Deering caught in the temporal wake of another ship and then looted? Were the crew captured or killed?
More information on the incident.