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June 11, 2008
The custom of the sea
I read with great interest the story of the Cynthia Woods. The sailboat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, killing one safety officer and leaving five other sailors drifting in the sea. Luckily, for the five, the story had a happy ending:
The five found themselves overboard with only four life jackets. They took turns with the vital survival gear so that no one became exhausted, Loftin said.
...
About 1 a.m. Sunday, more than a day into their ordeal, a Coast Guard helicopter flew near the group. One of them shined a flashlight skyward, got the beam of floodlight in return, and their rescue was under way.
The castaways did everything right, Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant said.
My morbid curiosity has gotten the better of me lately, and I quite accidentally stumbled across a Wikipedia article on "The Custom of the Sea." The first sentence of the article summarizes the Custom quite succinctly:
The Custom of the Sea was a maritime custom in which stranded survivors drew lots to see who would be killed and eaten so that the others might survive.
After reading this, I got a book on one infamous episode, that of the Whaleship Essex. I devoured that book, and it is quite possibly one of the most horrifying stories you will ever want to read. At first it was horrifying because the book goes into pretty specific detail about whaling; then it describes the sailors' ordeal after a whale wrecked their ship and stranded them thousands of miles from land in all directions. You can find out what happened here, or read the book.
Finally, I also found out the Custom of the Sea led to a famous legal case, which described the parameters of the necessity defense. Surprise, the defense of necessity can't be used to justify killing someone else, even if you have to eat that person to survive.
Needless to say, all this talk about cannibalism has left me wary to ever venture out into another body of water. I truly hope those people floating in the Gulf of Mexico had a better grip on their imaginations than I do!
entry no. 1164
Posted at June 11, 2008 12:24 AM