Mary Celeste

by Paul Begg

Mary Celeste is an iconic mystery - a perfectly seaworthy ship found wandering aimlessly at sea, her crew strangely and inexplicably missing. Paul Begg tells the story of the discovery of Mary Celeste and the people who vanished, and investigates over a centurys worth of speculation and survivors tales, searching for the facts behind one of the worlds great mysteries.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Mystery

Paperback

First published February 23, 2005

About the author

Paul Begg is acknowledged worldwide as one of the leading authorities on the Jack the Ripper mystery. He has worked in newspapers, television and publishing. He has written extensively on Jack the Ripper, including Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts, Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History and Jack the Ripper: The Facts. He is also the author of Into Thin Air, The Scotland Yard Files and Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea. Paul was formerly the editor of the Ripperologist magazine and has appeared as an historical advisor on several television programmes.

Reviews

[James Kelly]

The back of this book promises a gripping narrative and a century's worth of speculation and survivors' tales. But the reader will learn precious little about why the crew abandoned the ship.

This is because so little is known and Begg, in an attempt to wring an entire book out of a chapter's worth of content, hides behind copious and tedious amounts of specious detail. Begg swamps the reader with the history of the shipyard where the Mary Celeste was built, it's ownership history, the same for the ship that discovered the Celeste. On top of that is layered the life stories of everyone involved as well as complete irrelevancies such as the story of how a film about the ship was made!

I was bitterly disappointed with this book. Ironically, the only reason for the second star is for the detail itself. For the research enthusiast this will be a dream come true. But for the casual reader who just wants to know what happened?

Steer clear.

[Tom Wescott]

Excellent book. Not only is it a must-have for anyone with an interest in this enduring mystery, I'd go so far as to say if you only purchase one book on the subject, it should be this one.

[Tessa]

I liked the other Mary Celeste book better.