Unit14-Part2-Reading

A real ghost ship. Mary Celeste, the most famous real ghost ship, is still a mystery.

No one has solved it yet. On 5th December, 1872, the sailors on a passing

British ship, Dagratia, saw Mary Celeste floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Several of its sails were torn. It was a deserted ship, but it was heading for the Strait of

Gibraltar. When Dagratia sailors went on board Mary Celeste, there was a lot of water

on the decks. There was a meter of water in the bottom part, too. And one of the lifeboats

was missing. The ship itself was in good condition, but there was no one on board. There was

enough food and drinking water for six months, and there were toys in the captain's cabin.

Reports say that everything was in good order. Only the chronometer and the ship papers were

missing. Mary Celeste was a merchant ship. It was on its way to Italy with its cargo

of 1 ,701 barrels of industrial alcohol. It set sail from New York City on 7th November, 1872.

The captain of the ship, Captain Briggs, was Benjamin Briggs. He had a crew of seven sailors,

the captain's wife and his two -year -old daughter also accompanied him on this journey. But what

happened to the captain, his family, and the crew? Many people have put forward different ideas

to explain this. These include a pirate attack, but the ship's cargo and all the valuables were

in place. Or maybe the captain or the crew feared an explosion of the gases from the barrels,

so everyone abandoned the ship in a hurry. Or did the crew of Dagratia kill them in order

to steal the barrels? But that's not possible, because their captain was a good friend of

Captain Briggs, and none of the barrels were missing. So why was the ship deserted? This

is a big mystery. Perhaps we will never find out.