The 1873 inquiry's reasoning: wind 'more or less from the north', so she could not have drifted 7 deg 54 min east on the starboard tack, and 'could not have encountered any seriously heavy weather'; so she was abandoned days after the last log entry

Gibraltar Chronicle 31 Jan 1873: the Dei Gratia's log showed wind 'more or less from the north' from 25 Nov to the meeting, with the Dei Gratia on the port tack throughout. 'It appears, therefore, almost impossible that the derelict should have compassed within the same time a distance of 7 54 E., at all events on the starboard tack... the obvious inference is that she was not abandoned until some days after the last entry made in the log.' Also: 'she could not have encountered any seriously heavy weather' because the pitch in the waterways had not started. The Azores station notes (1940 letter) record a gale on 24-25 Nov at the islands with a calm or light morning on the 25th, and no earthquake.