Customer Reviews

Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(2)
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Maybe because I expected this book to delve into the legend or mythical aspects of the Mary Celeste more than it did, but either way I felt the book was a let down. It is very dry and is hard to keep reading it, especially once you realize there isn't going to be any big concluding chapter delving into other theories, including supernatural ones. I've read some of Begg's other work, being greatly interested in Jack the Ripper, and that is what drove me to this book. I definitely was expecting a little more.

This is one of the more disappointing books I have read in the last few years. I don't know if it was just because I was disappointed in the authors take on the solution to the mystery or what was / and wasn't included in this book. I think it wasn't very far into the book where you read the author's conclusion & then you read some other dry history surrounding the Mary Celeste & other possible solutions to the mystery. It just didn't grip me like I hoped it would.

This is an excellent telling of the mystery of the "Mary Celeste. Mr. Begg does not attempt to solve the mystery of the ship's abandonment; there was very probably a very mundane reason that the "Mary Celeste" was abandoned, but as nobody survived, we will never know why.

Minor points of criticism:

In the chapter on other mysteriously abandoned ships, the author does not mention the Pacific Ocean's equivalent, the "Joyita" in late 1955.

The dust jacket picture (which the author probably had nothing to do with). It shows a four-masted square-rigged ship. The "Mary Celeste" had two masts. The foremast was square-rigged, and the mainmast was lateen-rigged.

Everything you would want to know about the Mary Celeste, not conjecture. Of course Ships disappear all the time, where are the books about them? This one is a good read, enjoy!