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The Mary Celeste was built in 1861 in Nova Scotia, Canada, as a cargo-carrying sailing, It was given the name Amazon. It was not lucky ship. The first captain died a few days after it was registered, and on its first voyage in 1862 it was badly damaged in a collision. While it was being repaired in port, it caught fire. In 1863 it crossed the Atlantic for the first time, and in the English Channel it collided with another ship which sank. The Amazon was badly damaged itseft. Four years later, in 1867, it run aground on Cape Breton Island, off the Canadian coast. The ship was almost completely wrecked and had to be rebuilt. It was then sold and the name was changed to the Mary Celeste. Sailors are very superstitous and dislike sailing on ships which have been unlucky or which have changed their names. Many sailors refused to sail on the Mary Celeste.
On November 5, 1872, the Mary Celeste left New York, carrying a cargo of industrial alcohol to Genoa in Italy. There were eleven people on board: Captain Briggs, his wife and two-years old daughter, and a crew of eight. Briggs was an experienced captain and a very religious man. In his cabin there was a harmonium, which was used for playing hymns.
A month later the Mary Celeste was seen by another ship, the Dei Gratia, about halfway between the Azores and the Potuguese coast. Captain Moorhouse of the Dei Gratia, a friend of Captain Briggs, noticed that the ship was sailing strangely. When the Mary Celeste did not answer his signal, he decided to investigate. He sent a small boat to find out what was wrong.
the Mary Celestes was completely deserted.
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