The ship that was abandoned by the crew and found on December 4, 1872, 400 miles from Gibraltar by the ship Dei Gracia. Considered a classic example of a ghost ship.
The first name of the ship is "Amazon". The brigantine was not bad, but it was constantly haunted by failure. The first captain was killed during the very first voyage. The vessel has changed ownership many times. A storm off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1869 threw the ship ashore. After that, the ship was sold to the American owner, who renamed it “Mary Celeste” (“Mary of Heaven”).
On November 5, 1872, the next voyage of the "Mary Celeste" began under the command of the captain, 38-year-old Benjamin Briggs. The vessel with a cargo of rectified alcohol owned by Meissner Ackermann & Coin left Staten Island, New York for the port of Genoa, Italy. On the ship, in addition to the captain and the crew of 7 people, was the captain's wife Sarah Elizabeth Cobb-Briggs and his two-year-old daughter Sofia Matilda.
The Maria Celeste was discovered four weeks later, on December 4 (according to some reports on December 5, due to the lack of a time zone standard in the 19th century) by the ship Dei Grazia, under the command of Captain David Reed Morehouse, who personally knew Benjamin Briggs. The ship was abandoned: not a single person, neither living nor dead, was on board.
There was seawater between the bulkheads and decks of the recovered vessel, reaching 3.5 feet in the hold. The hatch covers are removed. The rest of the ship appeared to be intact. The windows of the aft superstructure, where the captain's cabin was located, are covered with tarpaulins and boarded up with boards. The sextant and chronometer were not found (which implies the evacuation of the team), the clock ran out of the factory. The compass was destroyed, presumably during an unsuccessful attempt to hastily remove it. In the captain's cabin, the jewelry box and two wads of money remained intact. Toys were scattered on the floor of the cabin, the sewing machine of the captain's wife stood with unfinished sewing.
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The location of the things indicated that the ship had not been caught in a severe storm - in particular, there was an oil can on the sewing machine, which would surely have fallen off with a strong roll. The absence of a storm was also evidenced by the observations of other ships in the area at the time of the disaster. The dampness in the living quarters of the ship was explained only by the everywhere open hatches, including the light ones in the captain's cabin, which was clearly not done for the weather.
The sailors did not take their pipes with them - they were stacked in their proper place in the cockpit.
The “Maria Celeste” set sail with one lifeboat, the second of the regular lifeboats was handed over for repair. The boat, most likely, was launched into the water, and not torn off by the elements. At the same time, judging by the condition of the railings, the boat was lowered from the side, which, given the prevailing winds at this time of the year and the course to Genoa, would have been windward.
A cargo of 1701 barrels of alcohol appeared to be intact (however, after its delivery to Genoa, the owner reported the disappearance of 9 barrels). A six-month food supply was left untouched. All papers, with the exception of the ship's log, disappeared. The last entry in the logbook is dated November 24, with the coordinates of the "Mary Celeste": 36 ° 57 's. sh. and 27 ° 20 ′ W. e. According to the inscription on the slate in the wardroom, at 8 o'clock in the morning the next day the brigantine would have been 6 miles south-southwest of Santa Maria Island (one of the Azores).
The fate of all crew members and passengers is completely shrouded in darkness. Subsequently, several impostors appeared and were exposed, posing as crew members and trying to cash in on the tragedy. More often than not, the impostor pretended to be the cook of the ship.