At the beginning of December 1872, the ship "Dei Gratia" met a ship in the ocean, which was sailing under full sail, but the course was holding uncertainly and moving in zigzags. The captain of the brigantine "Dei Gratia" decided to board the ship, since there was not a single sailor in sight on the deck. After the sailors boarded the mysterious ship, it turned out that there was not a soul there. The entire crew of the ship disappeared, as well as the captain of the ship, who took his wife and two-year-old daughter to sail. At the same time, the brigantine itself was in excellent condition, without traces of damage. All personal belongings of the crew members, including money and documents, were in the cabins. No sign of a fight or a hasty flight was found. The supply of food on the ship would be enough for six months. In the captain's cabin, maps were laid out on the table, where the path traveled by the ship was marked. The last mark was made in the Azores region. In the holds of the ship were bales of cargo.
After an investigation, it was established that the ship "Maria Celeste", with a displacement of 300 tons, was heading from New York to Genoa. The newspapers received announcements about the disappearance of the brigantine's crew members, but no response was received.
One of the versions of the disappearance of the crew members was an attack on the ship by pirates, who took people by surprise. But why, then, were there no signs of strife and disorder that would inevitably accompany the violent actions of the pirates? And, most importantly, why did the robbers not take the money and jewelry that was in the box in the top drawer of the table in the captain's cabin, as well as other valuables that were in other cabins?
According to another version, the crew of the ship ate poisoned food, which caused hallucinations in people. Tormented by terrible visions, they threw themselves into the sea. But where did the poisoned food come from on the ship? No traces of her were found either in the galley or in the dining room.
Scotland Yard police investigators, who investigated for three months, also put forward a version of the mutiny on the ship. Part of the crew could kill the captain with his family and people loyal to him, and then dive into the boat and leave the ship. But why didn't the rebels take documents and valuables?
The hypothesis looks more restrained, suggesting that the crew left the ship, anticipating the approach of some kind of catastrophe - a tornado or a violent storm. One boat on the ship was missing, navigation instruments and a logbook were also missing. But, at the same time, the sailors did not take anything from their personal belongings, even smoking pipes, which they parted with only in the most extreme case. This suggests that if the crew left the ship voluntarily, then it happened in a terrible hurry, and people took only what without which they would have died at sea. But in no port of the world did the team of "Maria Celeste" show up, and the ship, as already mentioned, was in excellent condition and did not seem to have been battered by the sea element.
Researchers inclined to mysticism suggested that some mysterious otherworldly force intervened in the fate of the crew of "Maria Celeste". This seems all the more plausible since the disappearance of people occurred around the time the brigantine was in the area of the infamous Bermuda Triangle.
One thing in this story can be said for sure: today no more is known about the fate of "Maria Celeste" than on the day she was discovered drifting in the ocean.
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