I've been kicking around the idea to start yet another series (shut up Annie) about the lines humans shouldn't cross but still do.

Topics that we don't talk about. This draft is about cannibalism. The consumption of flesh by the same species. Other avenues I thought to explore murder, incest, polygamy, and child abuse. All of these conditions have support in the secular as well as the religious context. Then I though I might be finding myself in an argument I wasn't prepared to have.

Side note on words and spelling. The words on the track are by Ken Nordine. My words have errors. get over it. I drew from the facts I could find and tried to make it interesting. Instead I came off like a reporter. I wanted to add detail but time is getting short and my interest is waning.

Shout out to Sam and Nick.

If you think about it and have time to do it, play Nicks tune while reading the Essex account. You'll find it in comments.

First part of 2 drafts.

Whoa! Hold on now. Don't hit that button yet. Either read and then listen or listen then read. Don't worry you'll be 'reading and listening' soon enough. Each one stands on it's own.

What is about eating the flesh of another human being so bizarre, so alienating?

Eating human has been with us since we (collectivly) began to write our history.

On a more recent note, I have come accross the idea of cannibelism while researching the story of the Essex.

More on that later .... if I stick with it.

The idea of cannibalism is written in the Bible. Open your 'good' books to II Kings 6:25-30.

While being quoted in the Bible doesn't make it the odlest instance of

Second part of 2 drafts.

"…there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men."

Those words were written by Herman Melville for his novel Moby Dick which was published in 1851.

The thought that his words were inspired by the real life events of a catastrophic whaling accident is some how inconceivable to us in this modern era, but they were. It wasn't just a singular incident that compelled Melville to write Moby Dick but the events that transpired after the fact which Melville used to tap into that bit inside of all of us that knows true horror and 'train wreck' revulsion.

The sinking of the whaleship Essex isn't a story that is ingrained into our national psyche as much as the sinking of the Titanic, but for the men who plied the whaling trade in the years after 1820 it is a story that could have easily been written about them at any point in their working lives on the sea.

As you read along keep this question in mind, "How far would you go to survive?"

"By Neptune, I think you are afraid of a whale!" shouted a mate as he took control of the ship from the boatsteerer. No sooner were the words out of his mouth when the 80 foot sperm whale rammed the side of the Essex for the first time. When the whale struck a second time, it meant the Essex was going down. With one whaling boat in the water the Essex had only 2 other boats to save the lives of the small crew. Over the course of 2 days all 20 men watched as their ship, their home, was taken by the sea. Fortunately they had used this time to gather provisions and all manner of items necessary for sustaining life on open blue water. First Mate Owen Chase described the feelings he had before the ;

"Gracious God! What a picture of distress and suffering now presented itself to my imagination. The crew of the ship were saved, consisting of twenty souls. All that remained to conduct these twenty being through the stormy terrors of the ocean, perhaps many thousand miles, were three open light boats"

At that point Owen Chase had no idea that the journey would be about 5000 miles. 500 more than Captain Bligh traveled in the Bounty's longboat and 4000 more than Shackleton's voyage from Elephant Island in the Endeavors work boat.

The Captain of the Essex a 28 year old named George Pollard Jr. commanded one of the whaler boats, FM Owen Chase command the second whaler, and Second Mate Matthew Joy took the helm of the third. Among the three a plan was made to sail south to more favorable winds then East to the coast of Chile or Peru. A distance of about 1400 miles, by the crew's estimation, it would take about 56 days, which in reality took closer to 4 months.

Ironically, the suggestion to travel to closer land to the west was dismissed because of the fear the local tribes might be cannibals.

The day was November 22, 1820 and it was the first day of the men's journey into Hell.

The crew spotted land on December 20^th and the men were doing fairly well by all accounts. Strict rationing and seamanship kept them going. On Henderson Island everyone ate and drink well. It must have been blessed salvation to once again step on Terra Firma but after just a week the reality of this respite came clear. It would only be a matter of time before the island couldn't support the lives of all 20 men. It was William Wright, Seth Weeks and Thomas Chapple who laid their chances on land while the other 17 set off for the coast of South America.

By the time Matthew Joy died on January 10, 1821 the men were staved and severely dehydrated. Diarrhea, scurvy, edema and the process known as catabolysis ( a condition where the body starts to break down muscle and other tissues to keep the vital system working) made the situation worse. 8 days later Richard Peterson died and like Joy his body was given to the deep. Peterson's body was the last death to go unmolested. After Joy's death the boat commanded by Chase was separated from the other 2 by a squall. It was the last time all 3 boats would sail together.

When Isaac Cole shed his mortal coil on February 8^th Owen Chase and the other crew Benjamin Lawrence and Thomas Nickerson agreed to keep the body as food. The ghastly provisions last them until they were rescued by the 'Indian' on the 18^th of February.

Owen Chase;

"Our cadaverous countenances, sunken eyes, and bones just starting through the skin, with the ragged remnants of clothes stuck about our sun-burnt bodies, must have produced an appearance… affecting and revolting in the highest degree."

Pollard and the new commander of Matthew Joy's boat, Obed Hendricks didn't fair as well.

Lawson Thomas died on the January 20, and Pollard and Hendrick's boats ran out of supplies a few days earlier. That's when Pollard made the same decision as Chase and the crew of the living started to eat their dead. Within 7 days three others had died; Charles Shorter, Isaiah Shepard, and Samuel Reed. All of them eaten so the others could survive.

On January 28^th Obed Hendricks, Joseph West, and Will Bond were separated from Pollard's boat and were never to be seen again. They are presumed to be lost at sea.

Goerge Pollard's boat was the one to take the full journey of horror. When they finally ran out of food on Febary 1^st some of the men suggested drawing lots to see who would be eaten next. They were desperate and they proposed murdering one of the living in order to survive the next day. It was the cabin boy with the unfortunate name of Owen Coffin who drew the shortest lot, he was Pollard's 17 year old cousin. His best friend onboard the Essex, Charles Ramsdell drew the 'murderer's' lot. Ten days later Brazillai Ray passed away by natural means.

Coffin was asked by Pollard if he didn't like his lot and Coffin's reply was;

"No I like my lot as well as any other"

When the ship Dauphin came upon Pollard's boat on February 23^rd he and Ramsdell were the only survivors.

The 3 men on Henderson's Island were rescued on April 5^th.

Out of 20 only 7 survived and 4 who ate human flesh to do so.