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The Mary Celeste is found adrift
A ship is found sailing with no one aboard
The merchant ship Mary Celeste was found drifting in the Atlantic with its cargo undamaged and no people on board. Theories include fear of an explosion, bad weather or a ruse.
The Mary Celeste left New York in early November 1872 for Genoa, carrying a cargo of barrels of industrial alcohol. On board were Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and young daughter, and a small crew. The crew of the British ship Dei Gratia found her sailing unmanned in the Atlantic roughly between the Azores and Portugal.
Accounts say the ship was seaworthy but wet below, the lifeboat was missing, and some navigation items were gone, while personal belongings and most of the cargo were still there. A few barrels were reportedly found empty. A hearing at Gibraltar over the salvage award raised suspicion of foul play, but no evidence of a crime was found.
The most discussed explanations are that alcohol fumes or a small venting made the captain fear an explosion and order everyone into the lifeboat, which was then lost, or that bad weather or a waterspout was involved. Piracy, mutiny and insurance fraud have also been suggested, with little support.
The ship's fame was boosted by a fictional 1884 story by Arthur Conan Doyle that altered many details, so some popular claims about the ship, such as a still-warm meal on the table, are fiction rather than record.