Even Edgar Allan Poe , master of eery twists and turns , would have been perplex by this head - bowl over coincidence create in part by one of his story . But let ’s start from the commencement .
In 1838 , Poe ’s only novel was issue -The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket . Partway through the book , the crew of a ship calledGrampusfinds themselves with a busted boat and no food or water . They manage to catch a tortoise and denude off its racing shell , but finally , so as to survive , the crew draws straws to figure out which of them will be sacrificed to provide heart for everyone else . The last drinking straw goes to a former mutineer identify Richard Parker , who is promptly stabbed to death ; his head , hands and foot thrown overboard ( you could scan the whole grisly thinghere ) . This hold launch the floating Donner Party alive a little bit longer , but the two stay crew fellow member are still on the verge of destruction when they ’re finally rescued .
A creative write up - Poe actually called it " very silly " - but here come the real twist . In 1884 , a yacht named theMignonetteleft England , head toward Sydney , Australia .
The racing yacht was n’t really made for trips around the humankind , so it should n’t have been a surprisal to anyone when it sank in a storm . The four - world crew hardly escaped in a lifeboat , but they by all odds did n’t have enough provisions for survival . They did catch a polo-neck and eat it , but just like their counterparts in the 45 - year - old Poe fib , they postulate more if they were go to be find live when a rescue boat constitute them .
TheMignonettecase became quite famous in England . The men go to trial for their crime ; two of them were earlier doom to death . This was later amended to six month in prison house . This Monty Python sketch was cheer by the ill - fated yacht and its tragic crew :
