The Mystery Ship "Mary Celeste" on This Day in History

This Day in History: The ship, The Mary Celeste, launched on this day in 1861, which eventually created one the biggest maritime mysteries of all time. 12 years later the ship was discovered with the entire crew missing. Her cargo was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again. The Los Angeles Times retold the Mary Celeste story in June 1883 with some liberties: "Every sail was set, the tiller was lashed fast, not a rope was out of place.… The fire was burning in the galley. The dinner was standing untasted and scarcely cold … the log written up to the hour of her discovery."

The Mary Celeste is not the only Ghost Ship in history. One of the most popular in history is the Flying Dutchman. The Flying Dutchman, in maritime legend, is a spectre ship doomed to sail forever; its appearance to seamen is believed to signal imminent disaster. Its captain found himself struggling to round the Cape of Good Hope during a ferocious storm. He swore that he would succeed even if he had to sail until Judgment Day. The Devil heard his oath, and took him up on it; the Dutchman was condemned to stay at sea forever. 

The Lady Lovibond is said to have been deliberately wrecked on 13 February 1748 off Goodwin Sands, Kent, England, and it reappears off the Kent coast every fifty years.

The SS Bannockburn sank in 1902 and has been described as the Flying Dutchman of the Great Lakes. They say that in certain weather conditions you can see the SS Bannockburn to this day.

A paddle steamer, the Eliza Battle, burned in 1858 on the Tombigbee River, Alabama. She is reported to reappear, fully aflame, on cold and windy winter nights to foretell of impending disaster. 

The HMS Eurydice sank off the Isle of Wight in 1878. Many have seen an apparition of this ship since. 

In 1955 Samoa, the refrigerated trading and fishing charter boat Joyita became derelict in unknown circumstances. The ship's dinghy and three Carley-liferafts were missing, and her logbook was also missing, when she was found on 10 November 1955, north of Vanua Levu, Fiji. A subsequent inquiry found the vessel was in a poor state of repair, but determined the fate of passengers and crew to be "inexplicable on the evidence submitted at the inquiry".

The Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait is the apparition of a burning ship that is regularly reported between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada.

Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a fictionalized story on this ship called: J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement 

See also: The Mystery Ship "Mary Celeste" by John E Watkins 1919
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-mystery-ship-mary-celeste-by-john-e.html

See also The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin – review
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/19/ghost-mary-celeste-valerie-martin-review

Mysteries of the Sea - 200 Books on DVDrom
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/07/mysteries-of-sea-200-books-on-dvdrom.html

The Sea Hunters - Season 1, Episode 8 - Mary Celeste - Full Episode