Investigating the Mary Celeste

by D Lawrence Young

On the 4th of December 1872, when Captain Morehouse of the sailing ship Dei Gratia called out 'Ahoy!' to a fellow vessel in the middle of the Atlantic, he could never have anticipated that he was about to discover one of the greatest maritime mysteries ever recorded. The ship he had happened upon was the Mary Celeste, and it was completely deserted, with no sign of piracy or mutiny. Unsure how to proceed, Morehouse sailed the abandoned ship into Gibraltar to claim salvage money.

What followed was an intense criminal investigation, with murder, mutiny and a possible insurance scam all considered as possible reasons for the Mary Celeste's abandonment. But after a three-month trial, no one was any closer to uncovering the truth.

More than 150 years later, we still do not know what prompted Captain Briggs, his wife and baby, and the crew of the Mary Celeste to abandon ship mid-ocean, and the speculation continues to this day.

With twenty-five crime and historical novels under his belt, historian D. Lawrence-Young is the perfect candidate to bring all of these theories together, delving into this mysterious case and shedding light on possible solutions, credible hoaxes, and tales of other ghost ships.

• ISBN13: 9781803781716
• Publish Date: 26 March 2024
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 307
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Investigating the Mary Celeste is an interesting partly fictionalized account of possible solutions to the perennial mystery of what happened to the unlucky crew of the Mary Celeste, written by D. Lawrence-Young. Released 26th March 2024 by Cranthorpe Millner, it's 290 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. 

The author has written an interesting mix of fiction alongside the factual recreations and recorded historical information which is extant from records of the time. It's possibly not as effective as if he'd stuck to one or the other, facts or fiction, and not presented them as a blended story. It's not a dry historical record; it's not annotated and there are no chapter notes. 

Readers looking for a deeply researched historical record won't find it here. Likewise, readers looking for a fictional story won't be satisfied either. The concluding chapter with the different scenarios and their likelyhood was logically laid out and accessible to laymen. 

The author/publisher have included a bibliography for further reading.

Three stars. This would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, as well as for readers interested in naval history and nonfiction.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.