It is hard to imagine ever being in a situation where we might think of eating another human being. But history has shown us time and again that there are many situations where people will commit the unthinkable. As awful as it is to say, sometimes the situation makes the moral crime understandable. But there are also times when the crime of eating the flesh of another person is cruel and unnecessary.
10. Essex Crew
The past is full of stories about shipwrecks and cannibalism. The case of the whale ship Essex is one of those rare cases where one could see why cannibalism was practiced.
In 1820, the Essex was attacked by a sperm whale. The ship went down, but all 20 men survived and got onto the three remaining boats. After much time on the water and being short on supplies, three of the men decided to remain behind on a barren island.
More weeks passed by on the water, and one of the 17 remaining men had a fit, convulsed, and died. The other men fell upon him, cut out his organs, and ate what they could.
As more sailors died, they were eaten. Then, one fateful day, one of the men had to be killed so that the remaining men could live. All in all, only five men survived long enough to be rescued.
9. Until There Was Only One
Anyone who was ever sent to Sarah Island no doubt spent his time wishing he could escape. In 1822, that is exactly what Alexander Pearce and seven convicts did. They went into the bush, and only Pearce came out alive.
According to various accounts, shortly after escaping, three of the men dropped out of the group. That left a total of five men. They pressed on, but hunger overcame them. The first to be axed was a man named Bodman. The remaining four men all took part in the cannibalism so that they would all be guilty of the crime.
When hunger struck again, Pearce and another convict held down yet another doomed man while a man named Greenhill killed and butchered him. Matthew Travers was the next man to die, leaving only two men: Pearce and Greenhill.
Finally, a camp was found and Pearce alone stepped out of the bush. Greenhill had been eaten.
Pearce was captured and confessed to cannibalism. The authorities did not believe him until Pearce had escaped again with another convict. This time, when Pearce was found, he had parts of the other convict in his pockets. Pearce again admitted to cannibalism and was hanged.
8. The Francis Mary
The Francis Mary, a timber ship, met up with strong winds on February 5, 1826. The event took out both of her masts, and she was suddenly dead in the water. Provisions were few, and soon the 21 people on the ship began to starve.
The first person died several days later, but the crew was not yet ready to try cannibalism. By the time the second person passed away, the crew had not eaten for 10 days. The dead man was cut up, and his meat was dried and rationed.
More people died and were eaten. By the time the cook was in the midst of dying, his wife, Ann Saunders, claimed property rights on him, bled him, and took the larger portion of his meat. Then she became the ship's cook and was reported as being unflinching in her cannibalistic work.
By the time rescue arrived, there were only six people left alive.
7. A Native Feast
A case of native cannibalism hit the newspapers in 1866. According to the report, a French war steamer sent a boat into one of the rivers in New Caledonia, an island in the South Pacific. The people on the steamer waited for the boat to return, but no one came.
