Investigation was salvage law: a boarding, a survey and an attorney-general who wanted a crime.
It is described here as what the court did after the fact, not as a guide to staging a wreck.
Agencies
- Dei Gratia officers — First boarders and prize crew; their notes became the scene record.
- Vice-Admiralty Court, Gibraltar — Heard the salvage claim, took evidence and issued the 1873 award without a cause-of-abandonment finding.
- Attorney-General’s office — Solly-Flood’s inquiry into possible foul play, including hull marks and the conduct of the finders.
- Surveyors and consuls — Examined hull, cargo and papers; American and British officials reported home on a commercial derelict.
What followed
- Board and inventory
Deveau recorded what was present and what was missing, especially the boat, chronometer and some papers.
- Sail the prize in
A short crew brought Mary Celeste to Gibraltar so a court, not a rumour, would decide salvage.
- Survey the hull and cargo
Officials looked for violence and for cargo theft. They found a workable ship and mostly intact barrels.
- Examine the finders
Solly-Flood tested the idea that Dei Gratia had done harm. The court did not adopt it.
- Award salvage
A reduced payment recognised the rescue of a valuable hull and left the human disappearance open.
- Release the ship
Mary Celeste went back to trade. No later official inquiry produced the ten people.
Turning points
- The missing boat — Once the yawl was gone and the ship still lived, every theory had to explain a departure from a floating vessel.
- Solly-Flood’s crime frame — The hearing became famous because a law officer wanted murder and could not prove it.
- The 1884 story — English investigation in the popular sense moved from Gibraltar to the magazine and never fully returned.
The investigation paid a salvage award and failed to name a cause.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.