Mary Celeste was an American merchant brigantine that was found adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands, Portugal, on 4 December 1872, by the

Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia.

She was in a disheveled but seaworthy condition, under partial sail, with no one on board, and her lifeboat missing.

The last log entry was dated ten days earlier

(25 November). She had left New York for Genoa on 7 November, and on discovery was still amply provisioned. Her cargo of denatured alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board — the captain, Benjamin Briggs, and his wife, their two-year-old daughter, and the crew of seven —

were seen or heard from again...until now.