The Custom of the Sea [Hardcover]

 

 

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The Custom of the Sea is a rather macabre yet fascinating tale of human survival and legal chicanery. One tends to think of desperate acts of cannibalism as the stuff of horror movies, but enough shipwrecked men resorted to this most desperate of means for it to become an unspoken law of sailors. This is an account of the doomed yacht Mignonette which went down in 1884 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, far from land as well as the trade lanes most other ships pursued. Captain Tom Dudley, by all accounts a kind and good man, and his three hands drifted for weeks inside a leaky, tiny dinghy, surviving on two tins of turnips and a small ration of water. Ravished by weather conditions, fear, starvation, and especially thirst, they persevered as long as they could, but eventually Dudley knew that the lot must be cast and one man die in order that the others might survive a little longer. When the youngest hand succumbed to the temptation of quenching his thirst by drinking sea water and rapidly approached death, the decision was made by Dudley and his first made Stephens to kill him. Blood quenched the terrible thirst of the men, including the third man Brooks who partook of the terrible rations as willingly as his mates, and human meat sustained all three men long enough for a ship to finally rescue them after almost four weeks adrift. The captain who saved the men understood, as most sailing people did, that Dudley had done what had to be done. When the men finally made it back home, they were shocked to find themselves charged with murder. The case was a sensation, and the conviction of Dudley and Stephens for willful murder provoked a myriad of outcries from all over the country while setting a legal precedent of unusual distinction.

The book begins somewhat slowly, at least for me, as the author devotes a significant amount of time to the life and duties of men aboard ship. The story of the destructive storm they encounter and their ordeal at sea is of course quite gripping. The second half of the book basically covers their arrest and trial, and while this part of the story necessarily lacks some of the human drama that has come before it, the miscarriage of justice described by the author increasingly raises one's hackles as the book nears its end. Such an act of desperate cannibalism cannot be condoned, of course, but it is certainly understandable under the desperate conditions these sailors found themselves in. The moral and ethical issues underlying the controversy are debatable, but the story that comes out here is one of judicial abuse. The Home Office, having failed earlier to outlaw "the custom of the sea," basically used this case to obtain its elusive goal, railroading the unfortunate sailors. Their conviction was guaranteed from the start, a fact their own lawyer knew but did not divulge to them at the time. Most remarkably, the presiding judge basically told the jury they must convict the men of murder yet went on to resort to an archaic legal maneuver that took judgment out of the hands of the jury (for fear that local sentiment might result in an acquittal) and made the royal court both judge and jury. I'm not a lawyer, but the legal jurisprudence of this case would seem to be of great significance.

The book does drag in a couple of places. Hanson takes the time to comment on the history of shipwrecks and of cannibalistic survival methods of desperate men. He also goes into great detail as to life on board a ship and the pitiful state of mandated food rations. These facts are all interesting and provide a useful background to the story of the Mignonette, but they do take away from the driving force of the tale. I should say that the story is written in a narrative form, for the most part. While this makes the book more compelling, it does pose a problem in terms of the facts. The author describes the life and times of these men as if he were there recording their thoughts and deeds from the day they sailed to the day their legal ordeal finally ended. That kind of narrative would not make for good history in an academic sense, but it does make for a compelling, eye-opening read.

Hanson has spun a very interesting, compelling and thought provoking story into a boring yarn. The book simply reads like a novel (rather than history) written by a college sophomore in a seminar class. Hanson fills the story early on with useless details that never materialize to bear any relevance on the story. He seems only to be trumpeting the depth of his research without putting it to much use. His prose is thin and uninspired. One of the two most interesting aspects, the "at sea" portion of the story, is brief and contains little of the overwhelming drama it suggests. There is little exploration of the characters. Even the chapter listing other stories of cannibalism at sea are rattled off as if taken directly from research notes with little thought given to their place or purpose in the story. Some portions, such as verbatim trial testimony and factual background of the political and legal climate were enlightening.

The cover of this book is done in Victorian style, and the prose is Gothic, formal, and "very British." Although it's probably sailing on the trend of current sea books, like "The Perfect Storm", and the story of the whaling ship Essex, this book is different in tone. I found it enjoyable yet I do have reservations about the "docu-drama" style of imagined conversations, emotions, and memories, which to my mind, trivializes real events. I realize the constraints which the author faced, as all the characters are long dead, not available for interviewing.

It is a gripping, elemental story of a situation few of us like to think about. One fact is particularly haunting: Sometimes men on leanly-provisioned ships would "not see" a small boat of desperate people, fearing that if they rescued them, there would not be enough food for all. Leaders of shipwrecked survivors would have to instruct some of them to hide in the bottom of the boat so that a ship would approach. So much for brave captains and the noble code of the sea!

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Chilling Story of Survival
This is a troubling story about a group of men that have to deceide what their morals are really made of. Read more

Published on Sep 5 2001 by Michael Schoene

3.0 out of 5 stars Plenty to declare
Neil Hanson's recreation of the voyage of the Mignonette is for the most part thrilling, horrifying, absorbing. Read more

Published on May 31 2000 by Darrel Bristow-Bovey

4.0 out of 5 stars Good story, Important Societal Questions
Custom of the Sea does a great job of telling the story of desperate men in desperate circumstances. Read more

Published on May 1 2000 by P. O'Rourke

5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS BOOK!
I was so amazed by this story, there's an incredible amount of history here tucked among this richly told tale- that reads so much like fiction, you can't believe it really... Read more

Published on April 6 2000 by Juliet Winston

5.0 out of 5 stars A Chilling Odyssey
An amazing true tale from the high seas, compelling both historically and as a narrative. The book was mesmerized me from the start, and I was held captive til its finale!

Published on April 6 2000 by Marla Little

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
I loved this book. It has everything, adventure at sea, courtroom drama and it is a true story. I couldn't put it down!

Published on April 4 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Lifelong Impression
A book like this comes around rarely. It reads like a gothic novel but has all the research and facts of a court presentation. Read more

Published on April 4 2000

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