Talk:Mary Celeste

Cargo was not petroleum
One writer of this article suggests that the Mary Celeste's log entries referring to explosions in the hold could be explained by her cargo of petroleum. But she was not carrying petroleum. That was the cargo of the ship that discovered her. Chenopodiaceous (talk) 21:15, 1 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Alcohol is volatile and with the right fuel/air mixture, explosive. Dave 3142 (talk) 15:12, 6 July 2022 (UTC)
 * It seems to be a mistake that in the 'Lifeboat' section the cargo is called petroleum. 24.192.39.151 (talk) 03:36, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

Doctor Who Again.
We've already addressed this matter twice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mary_Celeste/Archive_1#Doctor_Who_and_Mary_Celeste,_October_14,_2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mary_Celeste/Archive_1#Some_observations.

Source provided. Relevance: an entertaining and amusing story involving one of the best-known and best-regarded works of science fiction on the planet, coupled with one of the best-known mysteries. An interesting factoid that does nobody any harm. At least as relevant as the radio plays mentioned earlier.

Talking of which, I think that a distinction should be made between what purport to be attempts, plausible or otherwise, to explain the mystery and accounts that are clearly deliberate fiction. I'm not sure that the way they're distributed amongst the sections is currently quite right. Not sure that the reference to the Joyita belongs here, either. But I hope the above satisfies Nikkimaria. Hengistmate (talk) 16:08, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Nope. The source provided does not satisfy MOS:POPCULT: it demonstrates that the reference exists, but does not demonstrate that it is significant to this subject. If other references also do not meet that standard, the way to address that is by removing or improving them, not adding more examples lacking evidence of significance. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:50, 18 December 2022 (UTC)

Marie Celeste suspected of attempted insurance fraud.
Shortly before the Marie Celeste disappeared a ship called 'The City of Boston' disappeared going around the north coast od Ireland whcich was discovered to be an enormous insurance fraud. Many, at the time, thought the Marie Celeste was a failed attempt! 207.225.17.155 (talk) 23:35, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

"Fanthorpe and Fanthorpe"?
The quote about Frederick Solly-Flood's IQ cites its source as "Fanthorpe and Fanthorpe, p. 80", implying that it's from a book written by authors with such names. But there is no other mention of a book from which this came from, making me puzzled as to what book this is referring to. 2A02:A31A:C23A:DD00:7956:8DA9:7CA:CD3 (talk) 06:51, 23 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Fanthorpe and Fanthorpe is listed in Mary Celeste. Lionel Fanthorpe and his wife Patricia Fanthorpe have published a flood of popular books on various "mysteries", or forteana as his wikipedia article calls them. I am not convinced any of those books can be taken as reliable sources. User:Nø 15:00, 23 March 2024 (UTC)
 * The use of sfn (see Help:Shortened footnotes) would have made the article more useful, as it would link the shortened footnote for Fanthorpe and Fanthorpe to the full citation. I continue to be surprised that reviewing editors do not insist on this for featured articles. Peaceray (talk) 16:26, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Not “an” historian
Hard to believe this is still an issue, as the U.S. of an before a hard h is antiquated. See here and here    121.98.207.250 (talk) 12:46, 2 June 2024 (UTC)


 * This article doesn't use U.S. English. In British English a non-hard h pronunciation remains valid, and so the use of an remains valid. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:19, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Please indicate where it is confirmed that this article does not use U.S. English. And please indicate where in British English that non-hard h is preferred. 222.155.184.19 (talk) 10:41, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * There is the  at the beginning of the wikitext (4th line). Peaceray (talk) 14:32, 3 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Hm, okay, thanks, hadn't seen that. I don't think that's correct but I suppose that's a broader conversation. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:30, 4 June 2024 (UTC)