For more than 150 years, the mystery of the 'ghost ship' Mary Celeste has baffled the world. Why was a perfectly sound ship apparently abandoned mid-voyage? What happened to its crew? Conspiracy theories have pointed to pirates, mutiny and sea monsters, but now, science can provide a definitive answer. At the heart of this film is a large-scale lab experiment led by chemist Dr Andrea Sella, revealing how a powerful but non-destructive explosion, caused by leaking alcohol cargo, could have terrified the crew into abandoning ship