Voting Station

Benjamin Briggs

Please vote to return to collections.

Military Personnel

The Resume

    (April 24, 1835-circa November 1872)
    Born in Massachusetts
    Captain of the ships Forest King (1862-65), Arthur (1865-69) and Mary Celeste (1869-72)
    Mary Celeste was found adrift with its lifeboat missing near the Azores (December 4, 1872)
    Briggs, his wife and two-year-old daughter, and the crew of seven were never found

Why he might be annoying:

    A year before his last voyage, he considered giving up the sea and opening a hardware store with his brother.
    Ironically, given that he was a teetotaller, the cargo on the Mary Celeste was 1,701 barrels of commercial alcohol to be used to fortify Italian wines.
    His and his crew's disappearance is sometimes blamed on the Bermuda Triangle, even though the Mary Celeste did not sail through it.
    Some of the eerier details of the story -- such as the ship being found with still warm breakfasts left untouched on the table -- actually come from a fictional story by Arthur Conan Doyle inspired by the real incident.
    Also thanks to Doyle's story, the ship is frequently incorrectly called the 'Marie' Celeste.
    In addition to having an entire crew disappear, the Mary Celeste had two captains die on board, twice collided with other ships at sea, ran aground, and finally was deliberately wrecked in an insurance fraud scheme (1885).

Why he might not be annoying:

    There were no signs of violence, which tends to rule out the simplest explanations of piracy or mutiny.
    The most probable theory proposed is that alcohol vapor from the cargo built up in the hold, causing Briggs to order everyone to the lifeboat out of fear of a potential explosion.
    When the Mary Celeste was found, the halyard line was trailing behind it, suggesting that the crew had tried to remain attached to the ship in case the emergency passed but got separated, possibly due to rough seas.
    Nine barrels, which had been made out of more porous red oak rather than the white oak of the remaining barrels, were found to be empty.
    If you do not like that theory, we got another one: According to Doctor Who, the Daleks were responsible.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 1149 Votes: 74.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying