Famous writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote 70 poems and 66 short stories during his life,but published only one novel. That book, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon, Pym of Nantucket,is fiction,focusing on Pym's bad luck on a whaling ship. The novel,published in 1838 ,involves an attempted rebellion of the whaling ship. Pym and two others drive back the rebels,killing or throwing overboard all but one. The spared rebel, named Richard Parker,is kept aboard in order to help operate the ship. But as the ship overturns,it has no adequate food. Parker suggests that cannibalism  is the only way out,and they draw straws to determine the victim. Parker loses and becomes dinner. But in 1846 a real-life Richard Parker died in a shipwreck  . He and 20 0thers were on board the doomed Francis Spaight, which sank, killing all on board. It was a mere coincidence,as it involved neither rebellion nor cannibahsm. In 1884,the coincidence became extremely horrible. A boat named the Mignonette sank, and four people went into a lifeboat. And just like in Pym's tale,the four found themselves lacking food and were desperate. They did not draw straws;however,two of the remaining three simply killed the youngest,a cabin boy who had fallen unconscious. All three then dined on the now-dead 17 year old. The cabin boy's name,of course,was Richard Parker. As for rebellion,one needs to travel back t0 1797 ,before Poe penned his novel - although there is little evidence that Poe had known about this Richard Parker or intentionally chose his name for the Pym novel. That year,another man named Richard Parker led a rebellion of the British Naval base at Nore,taking over a number of ships. But as food was running out,Parker ordered "his" fleet to head toward France. The ship he was on foUowed this order but none of the other ships did,and Parker was arrested then was hanged as punishment. This series of coincidences has not gone entirely unnoticed. In 2001,author Yann Martel published The Life of Pi,which was made into a movie for release in November of 2012.lt teLls the story of a man who finds himself trapped on a lifeboat with a few animals,including a Bengal tiger. Martel showed respect for the shipwrecked men spoken about above by naming the tiger Richard Parker. And while there is probably nothing to this strange occurrence,if vour name is Richard Parker,you may want to stay away from boats. What made the coincidence in 1884 extremely temble?
Cannibalism without drawing straws. Shipwreck and rebellion. Rebellion and cannibalism. Hanging and cannibalism.