When is it
permitted to eat one of your shipmates? Certainly not whilst he is still alive
and definitely not if you've had to kill him first. It's also no excuse to say
that he was almost dead anyway so you were just helping him along a little and
it's not going to wash if you say that it is a normal custom of the sea.
So, next time you are lost at sea in a very small lifeboat accompanied by 3 of your shipmates and just 2 tins of turnips, do not (and I repeat) DO NOT start eyeing up the cabin boy whilst licking your lips and wondering where you are going to find a nice bottle of claret in the middle of the ocean. Just like Mr Dudley and Mr Stephens, you will end up in prison. Mind you and on the other hand, they only got 6 months - make your own mind up!
To read the report on the Pythonesque but true bizarre story of the cabin-boy-eating case see R v Dudley & Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273 DC. Oh and by the way, the answer to the question of when is it permitted to eat one of your shipmates is - whenever you like, as long as they are already dead. Bon appétit!
So, next time you are lost at sea in a very small lifeboat accompanied by 3 of your shipmates and just 2 tins of turnips, do not (and I repeat) DO NOT start eyeing up the cabin boy whilst licking your lips and wondering where you are going to find a nice bottle of claret in the middle of the ocean. Just like Mr Dudley and Mr Stephens, you will end up in prison. Mind you and on the other hand, they only got 6 months - make your own mind up!
To read the report on the Pythonesque but true bizarre story of the cabin-boy-eating case see R v Dudley & Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273 DC. Oh and by the way, the answer to the question of when is it permitted to eat one of your shipmates is - whenever you like, as long as they are already dead. Bon appétit!
Tina Morgan www.john-kennedy.co.uk
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