Factual error: Murphy tells the story of the "Mary Celeste" all wrong. As this is a real incident, from real life, there would be no need for him to make anything up or tell it as a "tall tale", and as a professional salvage expert he would be familiar with it. The "Mary Celeste" was carrying 1700 barrels of denatured alcohol, not cotton, like he says. And she did not sail into the Mediterranean on her own to be found off Tripoli, but was discovered straight on course in the Atlantic, despite having been abandoned for some time (according to the last log entry). See http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmaryceleste.html for more details.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.