The good ship Mary Celeste met her demise at the hands of a diabolic prehistoric creature from the remote and undiscovered mountain caves of Papua New Guinea.

You may be unfamiliar with the outlines of this mystery, so let me recapitulate.

The barquentine Mary Celeste, carrying a cargo of spirits of wine and bound for Africa, was found drifting and abandoned at sea. She was still seaworthy but not a soul was to be found aboard.

Few clues remained as to what had happened to crew and passengers. There were no living souls found on board, even the ship's rats had deserted.

One lifeboat was missing, there were half-eaten meals upon the cabin table and there were no signs of violence apart from a gash in the timber of her bows. Oh, and the ship's chronometer was found turned upside down.

Mary Celeste - truly one of the great mysteries of the sea.

And now I’m going to tell you  what really happened.

Mary Celeste was caught in a fierce gale in mid-Atlantic and was forced to fly under bare poles with the smallest jib set, was driven remorsefully to the south and west. Down and south they flew, with the barometer plunging ever lower. It was the worst gale any aboard had experienced. Terrifying in its intensity.

Even the old sailors on board started praying; some suggested throwing the Captain's wife overboard. They knew a woman on board ship is a Jonah. (Or perhaps a Jennah.)

But old men’s mutterings amounted to nothing more than idle threats, and the saner heads of the Captain and his wife prevailed. Then, one icy-cold dawn after the most hellish night they had experienced, they saw the rocks of Cape Horn off their starboard bow and knew that, with luck, they could make their northing and turn into the Pacific Ocean.

Well, Pacific by name, but not by nature.

Now they were thrown north-west and the same gale seemed to be following them into this quarter and forcing them the direction of its desire. The winds were fierce and the storms howled about them.

After many days they observed a slight calming and managed to set a reefed mainsail. By this, they were running desperately short of food, but the heavy rain provided copious gallons of water which they caught in in sails slung horizontally across the deck.

Then they had the good luck, so they thought, of being able to shoot some of the mighty albatross birds that had taken to following in their wake. But was this good luck? To kill an albatross? Those giant sea-going omens of good fortune?

The old sailors muttered darkly behind the scuttle, but the Captain's young daughter came on deck and danced to the sailors’ hornpipes and this cheered up everyone.

Mary Celeste was eventually blown into tropical latitudes and, even though the heat became overwhelming, they crew spotted an island. Going ashore, they found it was uninhabited and there they found wildlife for their protein and sea-cabbages for their greens.

And so they sailed onwards to the north-west in increasing despondency, for they were now lost beyond any map, and with a Captain and mate having no great navigational knowledge in these strange waters. The chronometer and sextant had been damaged beyond repair in the gales.

One fine sunny morning the lookout hailed, "Land ho!" "Where away?" "Port bow ten degrees sir." And all stared in wonder as a mountainous presence loomed before them.

They drifted into a wide bay surrounded by precipitous peaks and dropped anchor after measuring 10 fathoms depth and shoaling. Then they paused to survey their surroundings.

"It canna be sir!" cried one old foretopman. "What do you mean?" spake the Captain.

"Well my brother was a whaler in the south Pacific and he told me stories of a place just like this. They say it's called New Britain and there are fierce creatures ashore, neither man nor Christian beast."

No matter, the first day was spent peacefully, gathering coconuts which grew in abundance, fishing and watering, for this was a fertile place.

There was no sign of living creatures on the strand. But towards dusk, when they were gathered on deck for evening prayer (for the Captain was a religious man and tolerated no drink or profanity and insisted on the correct observances), they heard a strange wailing sound coming from one of the mountain peaks.

"Whatever can that be?" as none had heard anything like it, except for the Scotsman who dared to suggest that it sounded rather like a ruptured bagpipe or perhaps a banshee, the evil Celtic spirits which presage death.

"Nonsense man, just continue with Onward Christian Soldiers and let that be an end to your superstitious speculation."

But as if to defy their hymn the infernal screeching grew louder and louder and a grim shadow appeared in the sky high above them.

"My God! If that is an eagle he is the greatest one on earth!" cried the Captain, as the darkness drew ever on and the shadow grew larger and larger.

"Quick, get below!" he screamed in terror as a strange aerial shape flew over the waves at mast height and glided ever closer towards the ship.

They heard a ripping tearing sound as the devilish creature flew into their bow and snapped off a fathom of timber as if it were matchwood.

"It's a flying monster! Quick, everyone into the boat while we can still escape!" And so all boarded a single boat as rapidly as possible and lowered themselves into the sea as the dread unknown creature circled menacingly around the ship.

And that's the last that was heard or seen of the crew and passengers of the Mary Celeste, for no written record remains.

Of their disappearance, the local people have a legend. It is said to be a Roken - a giant flying lizard as big as a crocodile. They are known to attack canoes, devour people and live in hidden caves high up in the mountains.

Who knows what terrible fate befell the poor sailors of the Mary Celeste? And what was the origin of that unearthly screech and the ominous flying creature that circled their ship?

The Mary Celeste was found some years later beached on the shores of New Britain, deserted and as described by Doyle. What became of her people has never been discovered, but this short video might hold a clue.