1. Accidents
2. Art techniques
3. Cruelty
4. Death
5. Family
6. Grief
7. Historical fiction
8. History
9. Letters
10. Loss
11. Missing persons
12. Mystery
13. Narrative techniques
14. Seas and oceans
15. Siblings
16. Visual literacy

In late 1872, the sailing ship Mary Celeste, bound from New York to Genoa with a cargo of raw alcohol, was discovered adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, daughter, and all the crew were missing yet there was no apparent reason for them to have abandoned ship.

A Maritime court investigated and gave their findings with an explanation involving a series of plausible events. This however did not prevent much speculation and strange tales appearing. The most infamous of these was a short story published anonymously in ‘The Cornfield Magazine’ by Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.
It is in the wake of Doyle’s story, rather than that of ‘Mary Celeste’ that Gary Crew sets his tale. It is in the form of a letter from the Briggs’ family’s remaining child, Arthur Briggs, to Conan Doyle, detailing and questioning all the ridiculous and hurtful tales about the abandonment of the Mary Celeste. The letter concludes with the simple yet insightful question: ‘What is the responsibility of the writer of fiction? To create, or to fabricate?’

Gary Crew writes about this issue in the May 2004 issue of the journal ‘Magpies’. Here he attempts to explain the distinctions and inherent difficulties between ‘Fiction, Nonfiction and the Limits of Faction’ and relates these to two of his picture books. These include ‘In the Wake of the Mary Celeste’ which is a work of faction that allows information to be presented with some interpretative freedom and intuitive insights. Crew acknowledges the importance of the question posed to Arthur Conan Doyle in the book.

Whilst the philosophical question about writing responsibility is central, the Mary Celeste tale is very atmospheric and mysterious aided significantly by the romantic classical style artwork of Robert Ingpen. His images of ships and boats are reminiscent of the work of the famous English painter J. M. W. Turner and provide an important historical context. Throughout there are photographic style illustrations of various characters in the story including one of Arthur Conan Doyle. There is a sea chart showing the routes of the two ships, a newspaper front page and some official documents. The ghostly ship images on the endpapers add to the overall mystery of the story.
This book would make a useful text in any discussion about the recording and interpretation of events both current and historical.

1. Perilous Adventures. N. A. Bourke ‘Interview with Gary Crew.' https://www.perilousadventures.net/0903/garycrew.html
2. Tagari 17 October 2012. ‘Gary Crew – An Australian author of children’s and young adult literature.’ https://www.tagari.com/gary-crew-an-australian-author-of-childrens-and-young-adult-literature/
3. Kids Book Explorer. Natalia Bragaru ‘Robert Ingpen: a rebel against mediocrity’ https://www.kidsbookexplorer.com/robert-ingpen-a-rebel-against-mediocrity/
4. ABC News 16 October 2016. ‘The art of Robert Ingpen: ‘Dreaming’ to mix what is real and what is not real’ by Cathy Jacobs https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-16/exhibition-of-the-works-of-robert-ingpen-master-craftsman-book/7936820
5. Smithsonian Magazine November 2007. ‘Abandoned Ship: The Mary Celeste’ by Jess Blumberg https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/abandoned-ship-the-mary-celeste-174488104/
6. Part-time Explorer. ‘Ghost Ship Mary Celeste: the 150 Year Mystery’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dew4ZrTnMeE
7. The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia ‘Mary Celeste’ https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Mary_Celeste
8. The Clue Collective. Mystery History: The Top 10 Theories Explaining Why the Mary Celeste’s Crew Disappeared’ https://www.thecluecollective.com/single-post/2017/12/05/mystery-history-the-top-10-theories-explaining-why-the-mary-celestes-crew-disappeared