Mary Celeste
photo taken from timegun.org
The story of the Mary Celeste has to be one of the most famous sea mysteries of all time. All we know is that the Mary Celeste left New York heading for Genoa with Captain Briggs in command. He was a very experienced and religious sailor who took his wife and daughter with him on board. In November 1872, the ship was found by another ship, 600 miles west of Gibraltar. The sails were in place and no one was on board the ship with the only lifeboat missing. Everything on the ship was in good order, toys were found on Captain Briggs’ bed, as if the daughter was playing before there was a hurried exit.
The mysterious part of this story is that there seemed to be no sign of struggle with the ship completely seaworthy. The ship was holding 1,700 barrels of alcohol, which was intact and well-insured. There was also a good supply of fresh water. The question to ask is, what caused the crew to have abandoned the ship so suddenly?
