Mary Celeste The Mary or Marie Celeste was a ship commanded by Benjamin Briggs . She was famous for the mystery surrounding why she had been abandoned at sea in 1872 . The First Doctor , Ian Chesterton , Barbara Wright and Vicki Pallister materialised on the ship . Dalek s had already arrived in their Dalek time machine s . The crew of the " Celeste " mistook the Daleks for " the Barbary Terror " , and jumped overboard . Of the Doctor and his companion s , only Ian seemed to notice the name of the ship they had landed on . ( TV : " The Chase " ) The Second Doctor related the above account to Zoe and Jamie , stating that the Daleks had exterminated everyone who had not jumped overboard . ( AUDIO : " The Rosemariners " ) Her abandonment apparently was not a fixed point in time , as there were several different accounts of the event . The first three incarnations of the Doctor were all involved in different sets of experiences surrounding the crew ' s disappearance , though only the Second Doctor knew that he was on the ill - fated vessel . Another account had it that the Daleks on the ship had actually arrived via a human - made Time - Conveyor and they were being pursued by two human brothers named Peter and David . These time travel lers also left without realising the name of the ship . ( PROSE : " Timechase " ) Yet a third said that the Second Doctor , Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot found that the crew of the " Mary Celeste " had been abducted by Arcturan s . The Doctor freed the crew , but they were all killed by a sea serpent . Their experience of the ship was different from those of other time travellers on board the vessel , in that they actually knew they were on the " Celeste " . ( PROSE : " The Mystery of the Marie Celeste " ) A fourth history put the Third Doctor into the mix . When he landed the TARDIS on the New York docks , the crew of the " Mary Celeste " mistook it for cargo and had it loaded on board . To regain access to his ship , the Doctor paid for passage on the " Mary Celeste " . When he showed Professor Theodore Cassells the TARDIS interior , he fled from the hold to the deck . When he tried to tell Captain Briggs what he had seen , the Captain Briggs misunderstood and thought the TARDIS was a time bomb . He , Cassells and the crew left the " Mary Celeste " in a lifeboat , which was swamped by a large wave that drowned everyone on it . The Doctor left , unaware of the name of the ship he was on . ( COMIC : " A Stitch in Time " ) The annals of the Silversmiths ' Coterie claimed that they were descended from the survivors of the " Mary Celeste " . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) References made to the ship . The First Doctor , upon finding a deserted spacecraft on Vortis , wondered if the ship was like the " Mary Celeste " . ( PROSE : " The Lair of Zarbi Supremo " ) The Third Doctor , travelling with Jo Grant , compared the mystery of the S . S . " Bernice " to that of the " Mary Celeste " . ( TV : " Carnival of Monsters " ) Tegan Jovanka told Nyssa that Mawdryn ' s ship was more " Mary Celeste " than " Queen Mary " , due to its apparently empty state . ( TV : " Mawdryn Undead " ) Sarah Jane Smith , speaking to Maria Jackson , Luke Smith and Clyde Langer , compared an empty research facility to the " Mary Celeste " . ( TV : " The Last Sontaran " ) The ship is indirectly referenced by another doomed ship also commanded by a Captain Briggs and lost to arch nemeses of the Doctor . ( TV : " Earthshock " ) The Sixth Doctor mentioned the disappearance of the " Mary Celeste " to Peri Brown when they visited 1872 . ( AUDIO : " The First Sontarans " ) In 2009 , a future version of Peri Brown claimed that the " Mary Celeste " disappearance was caused by Piscon s wanting to take over human forms . This was later revealed as simply something she made up . ( AUDIO : " Peri and the Piscon Paradox " ) Sarah Jane Smith asked Harry Sullivan if he also thought the apparently abandoned galleon in space was an " interplanetary " Mary Celeste " " . ( PROSE : " Avast There ! " ) Graham Stevens claimed that his grandfather was rescued from the " Marie Celeste " by a mermaid . ( PROSE : " " ) Fitz Kreiner and Sasha found a building that was completely empty . Fitz likened it to the " Celeste " . ( PROSE : " History 101 " ) Martha Jones compared the deserted spaceship " Castor " to the " Mary Celeste " . ( PROSE : " Wooden Heart " ) Amy Pond compared an apparently deserted science research centre to the " Mary Celeste " . The Eleventh Doctor said that he did not want to go through that trouble again . ( PROSE : " Heart of Stone " ) Rory Williams once asked the Doctor if he had anything to do with the mystery of the missing crew of the " Mary Celeste " to which the Doctor replied , " Not directly . Long story " . ( PROSE : " The Good , the Bad and the Alien " ) In 2221 , Jo visited an exhibit about the " Mary Celeste " in Prague . ( PROSE : " Spoilsport " ) Offered a trip in the TARDIS , CJ , a follower of mysteries , suggested visiting the " Mary Celeste " . This was rejected by the Twelfth Doctor as " boring " , already knowing that " that was the Dalek s . " ( PROSE : " The Persistence of Memory " ) In his vault underneath St Luke ' s University , the Doctor had a sign which had " Mary Celeste " written on it . ( TV : " The Pilot " )