On December 5 1872 , the British ship Dei Gratia was about 644 kilometre ( 400 miles ) east of the Azores when they came across the Mary Celeste , dreaming aimlessly andcompletely un - crewed .
The commander of Dei Gratia – David Morehouse – knew that the ship had set sail for Italy eight days before him , and should have already go far . He diverted course in rescript to help and get off his crew aboard . What they found deepened the mystery . The ship had been abandoned , but the crew ’s belongings remained on control panel . The ship had at least a six - calendar month supply of solid food and piddle and1,701 gallons of industrial alcoholaboard , but the bunch had seemingly abandoned ship , taking the lifeboat and risking the capable seas rather than remaining on display panel .
The few clues useable , and the fact that the crew did not later show up , grow the Mary Celeste into an enduring mystery rife for speculation . Explanations range from foul play to raw phenomena , with a few massive sea monsters thrown in for good touchstone .
There are prompting that Morehouse ’s crew could have attacked the ship themselves , though this does not describe for how the wearisome ship entrance up on the faster ship after an eight - day head commence . A plausible hypothesis – given that one of the ship ’s two pumps was disassembled , and a small amount of water was foundin the ship ’s bottom – is that with one pump down , the captain may not have known how much water they were take on board . When they hit bad weather by and by , this could have caused the captain to ordain his work party to abandon ship , rather than risk it sink .
However , there is one other explanation that gained a boost from a test on a reproduction curb to explain the sinking feeling . The theory goes that some of the inebriant exploded , cause the captain to panic and give the order to board the lifeboat . It seems mere , but the trouble is that there were no sign of ardour or explosion on the ship when it was found .
Dr Andrea Sella from the University College London Chemistry Departmenttested the idea , using butane gas and cube of paper to simulate wooden bbl .
" What we created was a pressure - wave case of blowup , " Dr Sella said in apress discharge . " There was a striking wave of flame but , behind it , was relatively cool air . No lampblack was left behind and there was no burning or scorching . "
" give all the fact we have , this replicates conditions on board the Mary Celeste . The explosion would have been enough to blow unfold the hatches and would have been wholly terrific for everyone on board . "
According to this possibility , the detonation could have freaked the skipper out enough to give the rules of order to abandon ship , and account for the lack of evidence of explosion or fire .
" It is the most compelling account , " said Dr Sella . " Of all those suggested , it fits the fact best and excuse why they were so cracking to get off the ship . "
