The 'cannibal' disaster on the shipwreck Mignonette

A 1-0-2 case that took place in 1884 became a human argument: ' When you stand in front of death are you willing to kill a person to save your life and the rest?'

Tragedy is foreseen

The Mignonette was built in 1867. At this time, it was one of the family-friendly yachts with a length of up to 16m and many utilities for users.

In 1883, an Australian businessman, Henry, decided to spend a huge amount of money to buy Mignoette. But strictly Sydney, where Henry resurrected nearly 15,000 miles from England (about 24,000km). Therefore, no one dared to transport this small ship to remote Australia.

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Figure drawing of the Mignonette ship

Thinking that Henry's order would be canceled, at the end of the day, a crew of men took responsibility for transporting the ship. The crew consisted of four people: Tom Dudley was the captain and vice-captain - Edwin Stephens, sailor Edmund Brooks and a 17-year-old Richard Parker were apprentices.

Many friends and relatives interfered with Richard before this long trip, but the boy ignored his ears and said that this would give him interesting experiences.

The fateful train

The Mignonette sailed, starting her journey on May 19, 1884. At first, the trip was extremely "smooth sailing". But on July 5, 1884, when it was about 208 km from the headland, the boat fell into a bad weather area. A sudden wave of waves caused the Mignonette to wobble, a large array of ships was swept away.

Realizing that the ship will soon sink, immediately, Captain Dudley orders the other three to move onto a 4m-long rescue boat and carry some food. Four people float their fate on a lifeboat without fresh water and very little food. The biggest thing is just two small barrels of salted radish.

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In the open sea, there are countless dangers still lurking around them. The first night, the four of them could not sleep because a shark continuously attacked the lifeboat. All four must be very hard to chase away the fierce fish away.

In order to save two small barrels of turnip, the members of the ship had to earn more food from the sea. They were lucky enough to catch a small turtle and eat it alive, even though they used the blood of the turtle to fight the thirst because if you drink more seawater, it will cause dehydration to the body, leading to death. However, the young Richard did not dare drink the blood of the turtle, but used a lot of seawater to refresh himself.

It was hard to bear any more, people popped the barrels of radish to eat and 8 days later, they had nothing to leave their stomachs. On July 13, 1884, all four people had no food, no drinking water and had to use their own urine to hold back.

A few days later, July 20, the boy Parker suddenly became a fever, lying struggling at the end of the rescue boat. Precisely because he did not listen to other crew, he was exhausted by drinking too much sea water.

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On July 23, when he was in a very bad situation, Captain Dudley made a proposal, all four of them should draw a sacrifice for all to live.

Thereby, the winner will be killed and take the blood and meat to help the remaining three people wait for the rescue boat to arrive. Crew member Brooks refused, he was frightened and harshly condemned Dudley's barbaric opinion.

Later that night, Dudley whispered to Captain Stephens about the subject, he said, it was better to kill Richard Parker. The boy was too weak, killing him was a relief, not a crime, more importantly the other three were married while Richard was just a furry boy.

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Stephens agreed and the next morning, both of them killed Richard with a tweezers knife. They quickly cut Richard's arteries and soon, he took his last breath. Brooks, when he saw the scene, did not stop, but just sat on one side of the watch.

Stephens, Dudley and Brooks both used Richard's body to survive, four days later, they ate flesh, drank the poor boy's blood to live. Five days after Parker's death, a German ship appeared and brought the three back to England.

The trial is controversial

Having set foot on the shore, all three people faced heavy criticism from the British government. Stephens and Dudley accused of barbaric murder, Brooks was declared innocent and testified against the other two seafarers.

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The judge of the case ruled the death penalty for Dudley and Stephens

It is worth noting that Dudley and Stephens did not deny about what they did, both claiming that killing and eating Richard was a horrifying crime. Therefore, most public opinion is quite sympathetic to the actions of Stephens, Dudley and said that they deserve a leniency, not death penalty as the prosecutor proposed.

During the final trial, despite the consent of the people to reduce the sentence and the honesty of the two defendants, the judge declared: 'A person cannot take his desires, his temptations to justify my criminal acts. And we also cannot allow compassion for criminals because it will undermine the correctness of the law. '

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In the end, Stephens and Dudley received the highest sentence of death, they were not ordered by the Queen of England at the time to reduce the sentence. Their lawyers, despite their efforts but also helpless, said that the situation of the two crew members was unforeseen and posed a question: 'If we were in that case, would we act like Stephens and Dudley? '

This question quickly became a major debate for many lawmakers around the world. And so far, it's a familiar discussion lesson for law school students around the globe.