The Ghost Ship With No Crew: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

 

On December 5, 1872, The Mary Celeste, an American brigantine was spotted by the British brig Dei Gratia, drifting aimlessly in the Atlantic about 400 miles from Portugal’s Azores. When they boarded her, the scene was unsettling. The ship was seaworthy, her cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol untouched, and even the crew’s belongings neatly in place. Yet not a single person remained. Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, their young daughter, and seven crew members had simply vanished.

The ship itself already had a turbulent past. Built in Nova Scotia in 1861 and first named the Amazon, she ran into one accident after another, even losing her first captain to pneumonia. After Richard W. Haines bought and renamed her Mary Celeste, she still seemed unlucky. On November 7, 1872, the vessel left New York bound for Genoa, Italy, carrying Briggs, his family, and crew. Severe weather was noted, but her last log entry on November 25 didn’t hint at disaster. Ten days later, she was discovered abandoned — with only the lifeboat missing.

What happened to them? Theories have run wild ever since. Some imagine mutiny, piracy, or even sea monsters. Others suggest a more practical cause: perhaps Briggs misread the ship’s pumps, feared it was sinking, and ordered an evacuation. If so, the lifeboat may never have reached land. The story of the Mary Celeste even inspired Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous ghost ship tale. To this day, the fate of her crew remains one of the sea’s most haunting mysteries.

All images are Ai generated and for illustrative purposes only.