A Sea of Misadventures: Shipwreck and Survival in Early America

6. Chaos and Cannibalism on the High Seas

113 . 6 . Chaos and Cannibalism on the High Seas Disaster situations allowed participants a level of flexibility with regard to behavior , when they were no longer bound by conventional social constraints. And yet disasters rarely led to total disruption; rather after an initial period of confusion the victims sought any means available to reestablish social order. Even after shipwrecks, when sailors could legally choose their own courses for survival,order remained relatively intact.In most cases some level of deference persisted and any inversion existed only temporarily. Mutiny or mutinous conduct did occur after shipwrecks, but the narratives minimized this behavior, blaming it on drunkenness, exhaustion, or fear. Even when it became necessary for victims to eat one another for sustenance, traditional social hierarchy remained the ultimate determinant for survival. This chapter focuses on the chaotic nature of shipwreck situations and examines particularly two extreme results: cannibalism and mutiny. While there were numerous accounts of cannibalism in shipwreck narratives, cannibalism was by no means isolated to situations at sea. For example, nineteenth -century settlers headed to California or Oregon territory sometimes ate fellow travelers to withstand long winters. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, postwar famines forced civilians and military personnel to resort to this act. More recently an Uruguayan rugby team ate their teammates after a 1972 plane crash in the Andes.1 Much like shipwreck accounts, these incidents suggest that cannibalism did not occur randomly but followed a general outline where eating the dead was a last resort to maintain the living. These were not individuals without a sense of morality A Sea of Misadventures 114 or humanity; they used cannibalism to minimize death rates and to preserve those still alive. Despite the “practical”situations of cannibalism, the act itself continues to represent one of the more terrifying experiences that humans can endure. Europeans for centuries made cannibalism a defining element of uncivilized savages, occurring only in the farthest corners of the world. Explorers to Africa and the New World encountered evidence of ritual cannibalism, with some eating human flesh as an act of vengeance or to absorb another’s power.2 In this context cannibalistic acts were not arbitrary; they served a purpose in particular societies. Although cannibalism was rarely random, that did little to lessen Europeans’ revulsion to it, and it became a means to situate foreign individuals in opposition to “civilized’Christian behavior.3 Language barriers and cultural differences often prevented the observers from fully understanding the events before them, and frequently an isolated incident or anecdote increased in magnitude with each retelling. What set shipwreck victims apart from “savage” cannibals was the way in which they consumed their victims. Savages were often portrayed as having no ethical concerns, and accounts suggest that they ate human limbs, hearts, or organs with gusto and even looked forward to such fare.4 European accounts show cannibals as willing participants in an ungodly act. And yet Europeans made sure to situate ritual cannibalism in remote areas of the world, far away from well-structured urban centers of western civilization, and therefore far away from proper society. The shipwreck narratives followed this pattern and placed cannibalism at a distance,“veiled in fancy and exoticism.”5 Because of this distancing, even Europeans who participated in cannibalism did not threaten society, and the act lost some of its terrifying power. Cannibalism, at first glance, might be viewed as the “most disturbing act that can be performed on the human body.”6 Cannibalism occurs “when conditions become such that the traditions, rules, and laws that regulate normal day-to-day existence are no longer effective.These cases freed people from constraints instilled by their resident culture, and existed only when . . . severe and prolonged disasters drove them to the edge of starvation.” At those times cannibalism became a viable option.7 In addition shipwreck narratives suggested that even in extreme situations of starvation, traditions related to status, gender, and race often remained in place. Although shipwreck compromised acceptable behavior and stressed the laws that defined civilization, social order never perished. Cannibalism therefore was not random but was a rational decision made by its participants.8 Starvation cannibalism was always a last resort, and survivors turned to it only when all other options had expired. In the first days of shipwreck, Chaos and Cannibalism on the High Seas 115 hunger moved from a distraction to an obsession. The body used stored fat...