The Unsolved Mystery of the Mary Celeste

On December 4, 1872, the Dei Gratia, also out of New York, sighted her between the Azores and Portugal. Although she did not display a distress signal, the Mary Celeste was listing badly and sailing erratically. After boarding the ship, the bewildered sailors from the Dei Gratia reported that absolutely no one was aboard. All ten of the ship's company, as well as the ship's cat, were gone. She had taken on some water, but not a startling amount; and the 1,701 barrels of alcohol that were her cargo remained perfectly intact. The last entry in the ship's log, found in the mate's cabin, recorded that on November 25, the Mary Celeste had passed six miles off Saint Mary's Island in the Azores.

Although the life boat was missing, the seamen's personal belongings in the quarters appeared normal and untouched. Various valuables including money and pipes were found left behind, and Captain Benjamin Spooner's boots and raincoat were found in his cabin. Although evidence pointed to a hasty departure, the reason for which remains a mystery, as does the explanation for how the Mary Celeste remained on her intended course for eight days and almost five hundred miles with no one on board.

Theories abound, but none seem adequate. Bad weather was unlikely because the captain's raincoat remained and the ship had taken on a perfectly normal amount of water. . . Mutiny was considered, but there was hardly any sign of a struggle. . . Why would the mutineers have left the ship afterwards?. . .

Was the ship cursed?

Her first captain, when she was called Amazon, died of pneumonia nine days after the ship was registered. The second captain crashed the ship between Portland, Maine, and Nova Scotia. After repair, she set sail for London and then for France; but in the straits of Dover she ran into a brig, sending the other ship to the bottom. In 1867 she ran aground, and was sold for almost nothing. After returning to service, she was sold without explanation merely 12 months later, and was renamed. The Mary Celeste continued to sail for 12 years after being discovered by the Dei Gratia and was sold 17 times in that period. She was deliberately steered into a coral reef near Haiti in 1884, taking her mystery forever to a watery grave.

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