Natural speed please. This is a conversation between a man and a woman.
M: Okay, click to order. Great. Soon I'll be reading "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement."
W: Who on earth is J. Habakuk Jephson?
M: Arthur Conan Doyle, actually. That's the name of a short story he wrote about the Mary Celeste, or the Marie Celeste, as he called it. Doyle wrote it as if it was the confession of someone who'd been on board, and it caused a real stir when it was published anonymously in 1884. A fair number of people thought the story was real.
W: I see. Well, it is a mystery that would have intrigued Sherlock Holmes. That empty ship with the lifeboats still there…
M: That's not true, actually, and Doyle's responsible for that misconception. There's evidence that the Mary Celeste set sail with one lifeboat, and there were none on board when the ship was discovered, but Doyle fictionalized that bit to say there were multiple untouched boats.
W: Oh, okay. Well, if you're looking for fiction based on the Mary Celeste, you should also check out Phantom Ship.
M: What's that?
W: A 1935 Bela Lugosi film. Lugosi plays this down-and-out sailor who joins the crew of the Mary Celeste, and…
M: No, no, don't tell me. I want to be surprised if I see it. Have you heard the alien abduction theory?
W: The what?
M: This astronomer in the 1950s suggested that aliens made off with all the people on the ship. Part of his argument was that the upper rigging was damaged, apparently because the aliens hit the ship's masts while they were overhead.
W: Well, that's one explanation, I suppose.
I tripped on a few words, sorry. I tried to say it at a natural speed.