marie celeste

[neuromacer]

is the marie celeste true?

[incitatus]

yes. Though the original spelling was Mary Celeste. It was found drifting and empty by the dei gratia on 5th or 6th December 1872. The last entry in the log being dated 25th November.

[andy hughes]

As my learned friend informs, the story is true, although the urban myths about warm food found on plates, and a pipe still smoking, are not. The facts advise that the ship's lifeboat and some of the documents were missing, suggesting that the crew had abandoned ship, and then perished - why they abandoned ship remains a mystery. One theory is that some of the barrels of unrefined alcohol that were the cargo leaked - eight of them were empty on examination, and smelling the alcohol would have alerted the crew to the danger of an explosion, hence the decision to put a safe distance between themselves and the ship. Because the Mary Celeste had shipped some water, another theory is that the crew thought that sinking was imminent, and the lifeboat was a safer option. The irony is that the lifeboat appears to have perished with all on board, but the Mary Celeste survived whatever befell her, and was safely returned to port by a skeleton crew from the Dei Gratia.