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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.91633
EAN num: 9780345466655
ISBN number: 0345466659
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: June 28, 2005
Publishing house: Ballantine Books
Release Date: June 28, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 596714
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
On December 4th, 1872, a 100-foot brigantine was discovered drifting through the North Atlantic without a soul on board. Not a sign of struggle, not a shred of damage, no ransacked cargo—and not a trace of the captain, his wife and daughter, or the crew. What happened on board the ghost ship Mary Celeste has baffled and tantalized the world for 130 years. In his stunning new book, award-winning journalist Brian Hicks plumbs the depths of this fabled nautical mystery and finally uncovers the truth.
The Mary Celeste was cursed as soon as she was launched on the Bay of Fundy in the spring of 1861. Her very first captain died before completing the maiden voyage. In London she accidentally rammed and sank an English brig. Later she was abandoned after a storm drove her ashore at Cape Breton. But somehow the ship was recovered and refitted, and in the autumn of 1872 she fell to the reluctant command of a seasoned mariner named Benjamin Spooner Briggs. It was Briggs who was at the helm when the Mary Celeste sailed into history.
In Brian Hicks’s skilled hands, the story of the Mary Celeste becomes the quintessential tale of men lost at sea. Hicks vividly recreates the events leading up to the crew’s disappearance and then unfolds the complicated and bizarre aftermath—the dark suspicions that fell on the officers of the ship that intercepted her; the farcical Admiralty Court salvage hearing in Gibraltar; the wild myths that circulated after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a thinly disguised short story sensationalizing the mystery. Everything from a voodoo curse to an alien abduction has been hauled out to explain the fate of the Mary Celeste. But, as Brian Hicks reveals, the truth is actually grounded in the combined tragedies of human error and bad luck. The story of the Mary Celeste acquired yet another twist in 2001, when a team of divers funded by novelist Clive Cussler located the wreck in a coral reef off Haiti.
Written with the suspense of a thriller and the vivid accuracy of the best popular history, Ghost Ship tells the unforgettable true story of the most famous and most fascinating maritime mystery of all time.
From the Hardcover edition.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Well written and enjoyable read that is intellectual and factual. Mr Hicks does a wonderful job with backstory and biographical information without going overboard (no pun intended). His conclusions are riveting and well thought out and are also very plausible. I would recommend this book to anyone who has even a remote interest in the subject matter.
Rated by buyers -
A few notes for the Kindle edition of this book: No real problems with the text, but all footnote annotations within the body of the book are lost, i.e. footnotes still exist at the book's end but there are no links to them. Reading footnotes out of context is meaningless, and source references are not useful in this way. Most pictures come through fine with good resolution, save for a map and a chart which are too finely drawn for the Kindle screen. Not a big deal, I know the geography anyway. I suppose the latter problem cannot be helped but the footnote issue should be fixable with more careful or advanced scanning of the text. Kindle ed. price was right, and a pleasure to read this book quickly turning pages with the convenient buttons, etc. 4-5 stars for the book, 3 for the format translation.
Rated by buyers -
A neat little book and an interesting read. The explanation put forward by Brian Hicks makes perfect sense and accounts for all the oddities. Mystery solved, as far as I'm concerned.
Rated by buyers -
In 1872 a merchant vessel on it's way to Europe came across a deserted cargo ship sailing by itself across the high seas. A deserted ship is rare but not improbable; however something about this ship was different. It's didn't appear to be damaged or abandoned. The captain's log still sat at his desk, sailor's pipes and overcoats still waited in their respective cabins. There was no blood on the deck and no signs of a struggle. It was as if the crew had simply disappeared.
So begins the story and legend of the Mary Celeste, one of the more prominent ghost ships in nautical history. It's seemingly stands alone because public fascination would seldom let go of the mystery, the controversial trial that followed it's discovery, or the ships final fate. Years after the Mary Celeste ceased to be, the story would somehow find a way to pop back up again, Aruthur Conan Doyle made a name for him self writing about the ship, Bela Lugosi would star in a movie based upon the Mary Celeste, and other countless writers would be influenced as well...mesmerized by the haunting possibilities of what really happen during that fateful trip.
Author Brian Hicks gathers what reliable information still exists about the famous ship and tells it's tale, from the time it was very first made upon the shores of Novia Scotia to her final moments in the Caribbean. What lays in between is the story of the sea fearing Briggs family, two controversial trials, and of course the famous mystery. Hicks explores the stories and tall tales surrounding the Mary Celeste and even offers his own credible theory. Hick's style is a bit dry and full of detail. The very first half of the book is mostly about the New England ship trade, but the tale of the Mary Celeste is still powerful and haunting. Once Hicks takes us there, there's no turning back
Rated by buyers -
The sea is full of mysteries and is reluctant to give them up. One of the most notorious is that of the Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea, intact, with her crew gone. In the 130-some years since, the story has sparked countless theories of conspiracy, murder and supernatural shenanigans, and the circumstances of the incident have grown from fact to folklore. Still, the answer to the question of the Mary Celeste's actual fate has eluded historians, scientists, scholars and other investigators.
Until, perhaps, now. Researcher Brian Hicks doesn't claim to have the answer but, after describing the events as they actually happened and harpooning the many myths surrounding her, he does offer the most plausible explanation I've yet encountered. "Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste & Her Missing Crew" is a fascinating volume simply for its detailed account of the ship's checkered history and the biographical information on her captain and crew. At the end, he offers his own theory, which fits the facts of the case neatly without straining the reader's credulity. It is, to me, a perfectly reasonable and acceptable solution that, until some new findings present themselves, lays the matter to rest.
Hicks' narrative is fresh and a pleasure to read, wading through dense material without bogging down in the text. His thorough research is beyond reproach, and his conclusions are grounded in logic. The story itself is a sweeping epic that has held the world's imagination for generations, and the author gives it its due. Anyone tantalized by the sea or unsolved mysteries will find this a gripping experience.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor
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