The Custom Of The Sea by Neil Hanson

The Custom Of The Sea by Neil Hanson

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Summary

This is the story of the case that outlawed forever a practice followed since man first put to sea in boats - the custom of the sea - that of drawing straws to survive by eating one of the members of a shipwrecked party.

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The Custom Of The Sea by Neil Hanson

On 5 July 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from Southampton bound for Sydney. Halfway through their projected one hundred and twenty day voyage, Captain Tom Dudley and his crew of three men were beset by a monstrous storm off the coast of Africa. After four days of battling towering waves and hurricane gales, their yacht was finally crushed by a ferocious forty foot wave. The survivors were cast adrift a thousand miles from the nearest landfall in an open thirteen foot dinghy without provisions, water or shelter from the scorching sun. When, after twenty four days, they were finally rescued by a passing yacht, the Moctezuma, only three men were left and they were in an appalling condition. The ordeal that they endured and the trial which followed their eventual return to England held the whole nation - from the lowliest ship's deckhand to Queen Victoria herself - spellbound during the following winter. This is the true story of the voyage and the subsequent court case which outlawed for ever a practice followed since men first put to the ocean in boats- the custom of the sea.
Neil Hanson is the author of many acclaimed works of narrative history. He lives in Yorkshire with his family.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780552147606
ISBN 10 0552147605
Title The Custom Of The Sea
Author Neil Hanson
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Year published 2000-10-05
Number of pages 480
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.