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about

The ghost ship Mary Celeste. A diverse and dynamic arrangement going from soft and gentle parts to a wall of electrified guitars and highly energized drumming and bass lines. Predominantly a male vocal aided and abetted by the sound of a mermaid soaring through the octaves towards the climax then gently floating to the bottom of the sea.

Theories of what happened to the Mary Celeste include pirates, sea monsters, time travel, waterspouts, impending explosion, mutiny, drunkenness, and UFO activity, however no definitive conclusion as to what really happened, has ever been reached.

The song was first recorded as a demo in 1994 then changed and remastered for inclusion in the double album "Getting Off At Redfern", 15 years later.

The Mary Celeste was found floating in the Atlantic in 1872 by another vessel which had spotted her and began monitoring her unusual uncontrolled behaviour. After two hours of observing her, a small boat was launched from the observing ship to investigate and upon boarding the Mary Celeste they discovered that although the ship was in seaworthy condition there was no trace of the crew. There were signs that the crew had left in a hurry with ropes seen trailing behind her and one lifeboat missing, but no explanation could be offered, so the ship was commandeered into port and so began the mystery. The world would have forgot about this mystery had it not been for struggling writer Dr Arthur Conan Doyle, before his creation of Sherlock Holmes.

The Mary Celeste, who was originally built as the ‘Amazon’, was not a unique case, there was the Dutch ‘Hermania’ of 1849 found with no sign of the captain, his wife, child or crew, and the ‘Marathon’ found in 1855 abandoned but in perfect condition.

A court case ensued and no conclusion could be drawn, only theories. One theory, based on the trailing ropes, the nature of the cargo, the missing life boat and the weather, is that the crew heard the sound of the water pump and thought she was taking in water and about to sink or explode due to her highly explosive cargo of industrial alcohol. It is assumed that they lowered themselves to safety in lifeboats that were still tied behind the Mary Celeste at a ‘safe’ distance so that they could re-board her when (or if) the danger subsided. A gale force storm developed, the ropes tethered to the ship broke, and the crew in their lifeboat were left stranded in the middle of the ocean and succumbed to the storm and the elements.

After the incident, the Mary Celeste changed hands numerous times as she was considered a ship that owners would want to avoid. In 1885 she was wrecked off the coast of Haiti in an attempt to collect insurance by her last owner but this did not go to plan. The ship was overinsured and loaded with worthless scrap, boots and cat food, but failed to sink after running on a reef. The owner then tried to burn the wreck but the ship remained intact and a subsequent investigation revealed the fraud. The owner, Captain Parker, was arrested but died of unknown circumstances before he went to trial.

lyrics

MARY CELESTE

(Copyright 1994/2008 Rob Bender)

1. It's all too much, even though it's not enough
Reasons why, start to march into the night

Ch 1. Running out and running in, through the fields of desperation,
Only ten set on their way, but none came back to
Save the day

2. Our ship set sail, on chiding seas, on beds of nails
No time to lose, to tragedise this ocean cruise

Ch 2.
Rabbits' feet and bain-maries, fun and games upon the high seas
Ocean wrecks on tortured sands, this is where our journey lands

credits

from Getting Off At Redfern, released April 21, 2009
R. Bender

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about

Point Blank Australia

Point Blank Australia - Broadly described as alternative classic rock, their music also includes punk, indie, alternative, pop, garage, heavy metal, jazz fusions & B-grade film scores.

Influences include The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Bread, Black Sabbath, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Elton John, Chicago, Led Zeppelin and more.
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