Mary Celeste

The Marie Celeste was a sea-faring vessel which in 1872 was found adrift of the coast of Portugal (Earth) devoid of her crew. How and why the ship lost her crew remains a mystery to this day.

The case of the Marie Celeste has since entered into popular culture and language and is often used to describe a situation when the crew or populous of something or somewhere has inexplicably disappeared. In 2254 when the USS Enterprise was sent to investigate after a number of ships were discovered adrift, Captain Pike described the situation in his log entry as; investigating a fleet of Marie Celestes (EV comic: Flesh of my Flesh).