Mary Celeste
While "Mary Celeste" prepared to sail, the Canadian brigantine lay nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar. Captain David Morehouse and first mate Oliver Deveau were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen. Captains Briggs and Morehouse shared common interests, and some writers think it likely that they knew each other, if only casually. Some accounts assert that they were close friends who dined together on the evening before "Mary Celeste"s departure, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow 50 years after the event. "Dei Gratia" departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days after "Mary Celeste".