Captain's Dinner
A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A Barnes & Noble Best History Book of 2025
Four men in a lifeboat. Two weeks without food. One impossible choice that would reshape the boundaries between survival and murder. “A perfect enunciation of the classic philosophical conundrum: can you sacrifice one innocent life to save many?" (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi)
On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism.
Their decision to sacrifice the youngest—17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker—ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder—a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today.
In Captain's Dinner, acclaimed journalist, Pulitzer Prize juror, and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully depicts both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial that followed. "Is killing one innocent person justified if it saves the lives of three others? Cohen's answer—in this riveting account—reads like a thriller" (former U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken). Through this Victorian tragedy, Cohen reveals an enduring conflict between primal instincts and moral principles. This book will “make you think long and hard about what you might do to survive” (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania).
Perfect for readers of David Grann's The Wager and Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, this pulse-pounding true story has become a real-life example of one of life's greatest moral dilemmas. “Thoroughly researched and impeccably argued” (Martel). Rich with narrative detail and real-life courtroom twists, “brilliant and profound,” (bestselling author Amy Chua), Captain's Dinner strikes at the heart of a question that haunts us all: When does survival justify murder?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drama abounds on the high seas and in the courtroom in journalist Cohen's rollicking dissection of "one of the most famous cases in Western law" (after Supreme Inequality). In July 1884, three British seaman and a cabin boy were sailing their employer's yacht to Australia when a gigantic wave sank the ship. For the next 20 days, they survived in a lifeboat with sides thick as "a cigar box," no potable water, and two tins of canned turnips. Mad with thirst, the cabin boy eventually caved and drank sea water—a potentially lethal decision. Finally, the captain, Thomas Dudley, proposed following the "custom of the sea": drawing lots to decide who should be killed and eaten. But instead of lots, Dudley and another sailor ultimately decided to kill and eat the cabin boy, who seemed to be dying. Rescue came four days later, and the survivors were up front about what had transpired—society had long had a "placid acceptance" of cannibalism at sea under extreme circumstances, so the seamen were shocked to be sent to jail. Britain, Cohen explains, was modernizing; the "Victorian impulse for improvement" was being extended even to the lawless ocean. Cohen delves into the sensational trial, elegantly teasing out the significance of each lawyerly chess move. The result is a gripping look at a foundational moral shift of the modern era.
