Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... The Custom of the Sea (1999 original; edición 2000)por Neil Hanson (Autor)
Información de la obraThe Custom of the Sea: A Shocking True Tale of Shipwreck, Murder, and the Last Taboo por Neil Hanson (1999)
Days of yarrr (4) Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. The story itself is fascinating - the story of the four men whose horrible experience became a minor, highly politicized trial that affirmed the illegality of the custom of the sea, the unspoken acknowledgement that shipwrecked sailors would, sooner or later, most likely kill one of their company to feed the others. The way it's told is absolutely awful. Hanson couldn't decide if he wanted to write a novel or a nonfiction account, and he makes a bad job of both options. Long passages are told as "recreations," which are entirely un-footnoted or endnoted, meaning there's no way to tell which bits are attributable to these particular men in this particular case and which bits are added in for atmosphere. They're not even particularly good narratives, unfortunately. I'd love to read an account of this case written by someone who knows what he's doing. A compelling and tragic story of the human condition set in a context of the common man's adventure, privation and nobility vs. the aristocrat's manipulation of position and power at the former's expense. Does the end justify the means? Both the common man and aristocrat make terribly difficult, questionable decisions that in the grand sweep of history seem like the "right thing " sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Description: On 5 July 1884 the yacht Mignonette sank in a storm off the coast of West Africa. The survivors were cast adrift in an open dinghy, and survived for 24 days without food or water. The ordeal that they endured and the trial which followed their return to England held the whole nation, from the lowliest ship'd deckhand to Queen Victoria herself, spellbound the following winter, and made legal history. This is the true story of the case that outlawed for ever a practcie followed since man first put to sea in boats: the Custom of the Sea, that of drawing straws and surviving by eating one of the members of the shipwrecked party. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)910.4History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography and Travel Accounts of travel and facilities for travellersClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |
I really enjoyed Hanson's writing style and their ability to build a personality for each victim without stretching the truth. There's a lot of nautical terminology and jargon throughout, but I don't think that this slows down the narrative in any way. Dudley was surprisingly candid about what he and his men had done, which leads me to believe that the men weren't exactly plotting Parker's demise.. Dudley took pity on Parker, treating him kindly otherwise, which makes this story particularly tragic. The chapter on the sinking itself was very intense and well done. The image of the men clinging to the rigging as the wave hit will stick with me for a while. ( )