The Mary Celeste
On 4 December 1872 the crew of the Dei Gratia found the American brigantine Mary Celeste adrift off the Azores. She was under partial sail and seaworthy, her cargo of industrial alcohol almost untouched and the crew's belongings in place. Her single lifeboat was gone and so were all ten people aboard. None of them was ever seen again.
Souls aboard
10. The captain, his wife and daughter, and seven crew.
Cargo
1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol, almost entirely intact.
Found
Off the Azores, under partial sail and seaworthy.
Missing
The single lifeboat, and everyone who had been aboard.
Gap
The last log entry was about ten days before she was found.
"There was no evidence of violence, and the cause of the abandonment was never determined.
"The Gibraltar salvage inquiry · 1873
A leading theory holds that fumes from the alcohol cargo prompted a fear of explosion, and the crew took to the lifeboat tethered behind, then lost the line.
No bodies, lifeboat or survivors were ever found. The case has drawn countless explanations and no proof.