Edgar Allen Poe

Does this man ring a bell?

His name is Edgar Allen Poe, a famous poet and writer who lived in the 19th century. He is well known for the macabre mystery tales of him.

The coincidence that I am going to talk about is related to one of his works, “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym”, which was his only long novel. It was published in 1838.

For those who haven't read it, here's a summary of the story: Pym is traveling on a whaling ship when the crew mutiny. At the same time, the ship is caught in a storm and most of the crew are killed, with the survivors scattered. Food is a real problem; they hunt, kill and eat a turtle, but it is not enough. So the survivors play straws to see who will be eaten. The person who draws the straw is called Richard Parker, one of the mutineers, and consequently they kill him and the rest of the survivors eat him. Eventually, the rest of the crew is rescued.

And this is when it gets much more interesting. In 1884, a ship called the Mignonette embarked on a voyage from England to Australia. The ship faced a terrible storm off the east coast of Africa and the survivors were left adrift without water or food. Do you see the similarity? Well, it doesn't end there. The men managed to capture, kill and eat a turtle; However, it was not enough. Famished, they concluded that someone had to die in order to feed the rest. They agreed to kill the youngest, a 17-year-old boy, because he was already sick from swallowing water when he fell into the sea during the storm. The boy died and they drank his blood and ate his body. Finally, the survivors were rescued four days later. When they were found, they were still eating the dead man. Y, what was this called? Richard Parker.