Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery Of The Sea

In 1872 the brigantine "Mary Celeste" was found sailing aimlessly in the Atlantic Ocean, her crew strangely and inexplicably missing. What happened to them has remained an enduring mystery of the sea.

Paul Begg tells the story of the discovery of "Mary Celeste" and the people who vanished, and investigates over a centuryAs worth of speculation and survivorsA tales, searching for the facts behind one of the worldAs great mysteries.

Mary Celeste is one of the greatest maritime and historical mysteries of it time. Found floating, crewless in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 1872, the last entry into the Captain's logs gave no indication of anything untoward happening. Who were the crew of the Mary Celeste and what happened to them?

• Wreckage of the ship was found a couple of years ago - reawakening interest in the story
• Fantastic tale of mystery and intrigue
• No new book written on the subject for many years

This is an accessibly written, intelligent and thorough history of the topic, including the historical background to the ship, the histories of the cast of characters, the theories, and the story to date with the recent discovery of the wreckage.

Mary Celeste is an iconic mystery - a perfectly seaworthy ship found wandering aimlessly at sea, her crew strangely and inexplicably missing. "Mary Celeste" quickly became the subject of stories that told of half eaten meals, mugs of still-warm tea on the galley table, and the aroma of fresh tobacco smoke lingering in the captain' s cabin. Theories to account for the missing crew ranged from mutiny and murder to a giant octopus snatching the crew one by one from the deck, and lately to abduction by UFOs to the strange forces said to exist in the so-called Bermuda Triangle. "Mary Celeste" is "the "maritime mystery.

Paul Begg is the author of "Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History" (Longman) and two other highly respected books about Jack the Ripper. He is also the author of the widely respected "'Into Thin Air'" (David & Charles) about mysterious disappearances, which included a chapter about the MaryCeleste. He also wrote extensively for 'The Unexplained', a part-work about mysteries to which he contributed a cover article about Mary Celeste and has appeared on a Channel 5 documentary about the discovery of the mystery ship's wreckage.