Mary Celeste: Theories

My personal view is that something happened to make the crew panic. I think they left the ship because they thought it was sinking. (a)

Do you think Captain Morehouse is right? Nobody knows for certain. Here's what some other people think.

They sailed into a time warp and the people got sucked away. (b)

I don't think pirates attacked. The cargo was intact. It's like robbing a bank without taking the money. It must have been a mutiny(c)

All those on the lifeboat and were separated permanently from the ship. This happened because the rope connecting the lifeboat to the ship was severed-deliberately or accidentally. (d)

Captain Briggs feared an explosion of the alcohol in the hold. He ordered everyone into the lifeboat but this sank in bad weather. (e)

There was a small explosion of the alcohol. Because Captain Briggs was not used to carrying it he ordered an evacuation - despite bad weather. (f)

Pirates attacked, killed the crew and kidnapped the Briggs family. They believed Briggs to be a rich man. Later they killed them all. (g)

They disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle (h)

I) It was an insurance fraud.

What do you think happened to the Mary Celeste? Use the descriptions below:

e.g: flew off in a space ship - Impossible

Impossible:
almost impossible:
extremely unlikely:
unlikely
possible
quite likely
very likely
almost certain

Role Play

1. Role play the inquest into the Mary Celeste. The inquest panel suspect that the crew of the Dei Graca have done something wrong. They do not believe the stories told by Captain Morehous and his crew

You could play a version of the game 'alibi'. For this the inquest panel needs to interview each crew member individually - do their stories match? Dei Graca crew members can prepare their version before you start.

Possible roles: Captain Morehouse, first mate, other crew members, inquest panel members

Listening


Now Watch this short film

Part 1 * Part 2 * Legends * Facts * Theories
Witness * Video * Activities * Mary Celeste Crossword
Matching Exercise * Modern 'Mary Celeste' yacht