Key information about the story:-

• the Marie Celeste sailed from New York on November 7th 1872
  
• it was heading for Genoa
• her captain was Benjamin Spooner Briggs
• the ship's mate (second in command) was called Albert Richardson
• there was a crew of seven on the ship, plus the Captain's wife Sarah and their two year old daughter Sophia Matilda
• the ship was carrying 1701 barrels of alcohol
• the Marie Celeste was spotted by a ship called Dei Gratia on 15th November
• the Dei Gratia was following a parallel course
• on the afternoon of 5th December, half way between the Azores and the Portuguese coast, the Captain of the Dei Gratia spotted that the Marie Celeste appeared to be out of control
• Captain Briggs was known to be a good seaman, so Captain Morehouse of the Dei Gratia was concerned
• no distress signals were received from the Marie Celeste
• after two hours of trying to catch the attention of someone on the Marie Celeste, Captain Morehouse sent out a small boat under the command of Oliver Deveau, the Chief Mate to board the ship. This is what he found:
  • no-one was on board the ship
  • it looked as if everyone had left in a hurry
  • one of the ship's pumps was broken
  • the stove in the galley (the ship's kitchen) had been tipped over and cooking pots were lying around in a mess
  • below the top deck was very wet
  • there were no small boats on board
  • the ship appeared to be in good, sea-worthy condition
  • personal belongings had been left behind
• at 9am on Friday 13thDecember 1872 the Marie Celeste was sailed back into the Bay of Gibraltar by some of the crew from the Dei Gratia