Medusa Raft Cannibalism Disaster

In 1816, 147 French sailors and passengers from the frigate Méduse ended up adrift off West Africa on a hastily built raft after their captain, an aristocrat who had not sailed in 20 years, cut the towline that briefly linked them to the ships’ boats. The overloaded raft quickly turned into a scene of chaos as men fought, killed, and within three days resorted to cannibalism to survive. After 13 days at sea, a rescue ship finally found the raft, and only 15 men were still alive, turning the incident into a symbol of deadly incompetence and avoidable tragedy.

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