Mary Celeste

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/mary-celeste

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the ship's construction?Canadian-built merchant brigantine
2. What is the registered under?American registry from 1868
3. When was the Mary Celeste found?The ship was discovered on December 4, 1872, about 100 nautical miles off the Azores islands. The Canadian ship Dei Gratia found it drifting.
4. Why was the crew missing?The crew disappeared for reasons that are still unknown. The ship had no signs of a fight or forced entry, and the lifeboat was missing, so many ideas were suggested but none proved true.

Brigantine: A two-masted sailing vessel, typically square-rigged on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigged on the mainmast.
Salvage Hearings: Legal proceedings to determine ownership and compensation for rescuing a ship or its cargo from peril.
Insurance Fraud: Deception to obtain money from an insurance company, often by faking damage or loss.