World of Mystery

The history of Mary Celeste dates back to 1860. The ship is a 103 feet long half-brig, displacing 280 tonnes, originally known as Amazon. Unfortunately the ship has a very patchy history. She was involved in several accidents and changed hands several times. Finally, she was purchased from a New York salvage auction, repaired and renamed Mary Celeste.

On November 7th, 1872, Mary Celeste left New York with Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, daughter and 8 crews. The ship was heading towards Genoa of Italy with 1700 barrels of raw alcohol. Unfortunately, that was the last time the captain's family and his crews were to be seen. 

In December 4th, 1872, Dei Gratia spotted Mary Celeste drifting away in a gentle breeze. Oliver Deveau, the first mate of Dei Gratia boarded the abandoned ship and found no one inside.The whole ship was in a mess. All the papers except the captain's logbook was missing. However, the ships cargo was mostly intact. People slowly forgot all about the abandoned ship.

The story took a new twist with the publication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's  J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement. The story had some curious similarity with the fate of the Mary Celeste. It stirred up a huge controversy and captured the public interest. Since then the Mary Celeste has went on to create numerous myths. The speculations about the accident's cause have ranged from piracy to insurance scam to as diverse as watersprout and mutiny, but, the real reason still remains unknown. The archtypal ghost ship.

Thank you

Shampad Momin

Sources:

www.wikipedia.org

www.timegun.org

www.fortogden.com

The most famous case of disappearance from the legendary Bermuda Triangle. A squadron of five Avenger torpedo bombers went missing from over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945. A case that is yet to be solved. Coming soon.

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