DECEMBER 4, 1872 - The Mary Celeste, a brigantine merchant ship, was found adrift with its entire crew missing in the Atlantic Ocean about 600 miles off the coast of Portugal. Under the command of Captain Benjamin Briggs the ship had left Staten Island, New York, four weeks earlier carrying a cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol bound for Genoa, Italy. The ship was discovered still under sail heading towards the Straits of Gibraltar, by the crew of the Dei Gratia, whose captain had dined with Briggs the night before the Mary Celeste set sail. When the derelict ship was found, its clock was not functioning, the compass was destroyed and the ship's papers (except for the captain's logbook), sextant and marine chronometer were missing as well as its only lifeboat. However, the ship was in seaworthy condition with no serious weather damage or any other trouble that would have prompted sailors to abandon ship. The cargo was untouched and none of the crews' personal belongings, including valuables, had been disturbed. This evidence, combined with the fact that there was no sign of a struggle, ruled out the likelihood that the ship had been attacked by pirates. No one, from the ten people that sailed aboard the Mary Celeste, including captain, seven crewmen and the captain's wife and daughter, was ever found. Though numerous theories have been put forward, the fate of the crew and the reason for their unusual disappearance remains to this day one of the greatest maritime mysteries.

DECEMBER 5, 1791 - Classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 35. A child musical prodigy, Mozart began composing when he was only five years old. During his life he composed more than 600 works.

DECEMBER 7, 1941 - The Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on the United States' naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sending 353 aircraft in two waves during the early morning hours. The attack, which was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, sank 11 ships, destroyed 188 aircraft and claimed the lives 2,402 Americans. A third wave, aimed at taking out Pearl Harbor's fuel supply, torpedo storage, maintenance, and dry dock facilities, was withdrawn when the Japanese commanders feared their fleet had sailed within range of America's land-based bombers. Military historians agree that had the planned third wave been carried out it would have so harmed the U.S. Pacific Fleet as to prolong the war for an additional two years.