Looking to escape disease and poverty in New York, First Mate Richardson finds he has a new job to sail with 1700 barrels of alcohol. When the first set of sailors swindle him for food and money, he is left with a smaller second crew he manages to hire. Having loaded the cargo, he finds that Captain Briggs is disagreeable and along with the crew is also transporting his wife and child on the trip to Genoa. As the ships sails on, the Captain’s behaviour becomes ever stranger and his demands more bizarre. When his family are no longer seen, he demands the crew begin to wait on him. But when the first one does not return, some of the barrels of alcohol are drunk dry, and the ship’s cook is found murdered, Richardson and the remainder of the crew decide to confront the captain and discover just what is driving him mad.

This is short horror piece based on the original story of the Mary Celeste and using some real world events to enhance the telling. The story starts before the ship sails, but quickly paints the picture of the desperation in New York that shows why the crew would leave under such dire circumstances. It then keeps the high level of tension and worry for the crew as they try to understand what is happening. As a reader, I had an idea of what was going on, but was not expecting the conclusion that did occur. The story is told from Richardson’s point of view and his consistent thoughts on the crew, the ship, and the captain in a diary format saying what has been going on for each day. As such, it feels a natural way for the events to be described and you can understand his feelings and actions as the situation unfolds, all of which are more than enough to wonder at what is happening.

My one gripe is that as the story is based on the historical events, it does not end in the same bizarre way as it did in history. Also, there is a question as to whether it should contain any supernatural horror at all, or whether madness would suffice on its own. The formatting of the books was fine and there are some illustrations at the back of the book from the era as well as one towards the start, which might have been better placed with the others.

Overall, it is an interesting read that starts slowly but ratchets up the tension as the voyage unfolds.