On this date in 1872, the US brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.
Deserted — the captain’s table was set with an uneaten meal, and the lifeboat was missing — there was only slight damage to the ship’s rigging, and its cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol was intact. The mystery has never been solved.
Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist explores a similar inexplicable discovery.
Slate magazine runs a story, The unluckiest ship ever to sail the seven seas, sub-headlined, “In 1872, the crew of the Mary Celeste disappeared without a trace. Her story only got weirder from there.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2011/12/the_mary_celeste_the_unluckiest_ship_to_ever_sail_the_seven_seas_.single.html