The ghost ship Mary Celeste
In 1872 The British ship Dei Gratia was navigating the Atlantic when captain
Morehouse and his crew found the ship mary celeste. There was no sign of life on it,
and they thought it allegedly sailed a considerable distance without a navigator, that is
why it was called the “ghost ship”
To better understand this mystery, we have to go back to 1861, when a ship called the
Amazon was built. On it, there were multiple accidents, that made people think the ship
was unlucky. Later, it was sold and changed its name to “Mary Celeste”. The new
owners did not know the superstition that changing a ship’s name brings bad luck, and
since many people especially sailors, thought that ship was unlucky, it was hard to find
a crew.
Finally, seven sailors accepted to take part in the crew, whit Benjamin Briggs as the
captain.
In 1872, it sailed from NYC harbor with 1700 barrels of alcohol. Onboard besides the
seven men crew, there were also, three captain´s family members. And The ship’s
destination was Italy.
The first couple of days, the weather was perfect for sailing, but when they came closer
to the Azores, it suddenly changed.
Something strange about the route the captain took, was that he decided to go north of
the island Santa Maria when the most direct route to go Italy, was going south of the
island.
One possible explanation is that he went there, looking for good weather.
Then something unexpected happened, that force the whole crew to abandon the ship
and go into a lifeboat. Since then no one ever heard or saw them again.
The crew of the ship Dei Gratia got on the Mary Celeste but did not found anything
mysterious or strange. Everything was in perfect condition
The captain could not give any logical explanation of this frightening discovery. So he
ordered three of his crew members to sail mary celeste to the port of Gibraltar. When it
arrived, British authorities examined it and asked these questions
-why were nine of the barrels of unrefined alcohol empty, did the crew drink it and go
mad
-did pirates take over the ship if so where did they go
- how did the ship remain on its course for 10 days without anyone to sail it perhaps
someone remained on board but who and where was that person
After two years the mystery remained unsolved.,
This case became popular around the world. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a
story about it.
And after being sold 17 times, 11 years after it was found, The mary celeste was
destroyed on some rocks in the Caribbean sea.
There were many scientific theories that could have explained this case, one of them
was the seaquakes, which produce high waves and loud noises, and are very common
in the Azores. But it cannot be proven since there were any instruments to record
seaquakes in 1872.
Whatever its fate was, The mary celeste case remains a mystery.
AMARILLO IVANNA
CELESTE ARIEL
ROSA KARLITA
Opinion
After listening and researching this fascinating story, we determined that it has nothing
to do with fictional events, but with real situations such as natural disasters or even a
mutiny. We think that the crew of The Mary Celest was victim of a seaquake, got afraid
because of it and decided to leave, but the theory that has much more logic is that
perhaps there was a mutiny on the ship, maybe a few crew members decided to
murder the captain and his family, because of the route he took, get rid of the bodies,
and for not being accused, decided to abandon the ship going into a lifeboat a few days
later.
Now we are gonna ask the audience a few questions:
Which of the theories we give you seems more realistic and why?
If you had been the captain of the Dei Gratia, what would you have done?
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