What happened to the ten people who had sailed aboard the Mary Celeste on November 7, 1872. Theories have ranged from mutiny to pirates to sea monsters to killer waterspouts. The ship had set sail with seven crewmen. On December 5, the crew of the British Brig Dei Gratia spotted Mary Celeste. On a search, it was found that the charts of the ship had been tossed about, the only lifeboat of the ship was missing, and one of its two pumps had been disassembled. Three and a half feet of water was sloshing in the bottom of the ship but the cargo of 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol was largely intact.