Mary Celeste
27 Dec 06

At about 1pm on Thursday 5 December 1872, sea time, a sailor named John Johnson was at the wheel of the brigantine Dei Gratia when he sighted a vessel about six miles off the port bow.  By mid afternoon Second Mate John Wright and seaman Johnson boarded the mysterious vessel on whose boards they could see the name Mary Celeste. 

They had no cause to imagine as the clambered over the side and dropped to her deck that they were about to enter the history books as participants in the greatest of all maritime mysteries.

Mary Celeste was a perfectly sea-worthy ship.  She was not sinking or taking in water and she was fully provisioned.  So why would the highly capable, honest and experienced captain and crew desert her mid-ocean?

Over the years many people have tried to explain what happened aboard the Mary Celeste.  Countless short stories, films and novels have put forward endless theories from mutiny and murder to attacks by giant sea creatures, and yet no one will ever discover the unaccountable disappearance of the captain, his crew, his wife and their little girl.

For the first time in thirty years Paul Begg draws together a complete and gripping account of the history of the ship, the cast of characters, the theories of the disappearances and the discovery of the wreckage.

In this new paperback edition Begg also discusses the fictional stories and films inspired by Mary Celeste and includes the full text of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story and a fascinating account of the Hammer Films production, starring Bela Lugosi.

	Mary Celeste
	Author	Paul Begg
	Pub Date	8 Dec 2006
	Price	£9.99
	Publisher	Longman
	ISBN10	1405836210
	ISBN13	9781405836210
		Click here for further information or to purchase Mary Celeste.

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