Captain's Dinner

A Shipwreck, and Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changes Legal History

Four men in a lifeboat. Two weeks without food. One impossible choice that would reshape the boundaries between survival and murder.

'A perfect enunciation of the classic philosophical conundrum: can you sacrifice one innocent life to save many?' (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi)On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette sailed from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve or resort to cannibalism.

Their decision to sacrifice the 17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker ignited a firestorm of controversy. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder.

In Captain's Dinner, acclaimed journalist, Pulitzer Prize juror, and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully depicts both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial. 'Is killing one innocent person justified if it saves the lives of three others? Cohen's answer – in this riveting account – reads like a thriller' (former Secretary of State Antony Blinken). Perfect for readers of The Wager and Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, this pulse-pounding true story has become a real-life example of one of life's greatest moral dilemmas.

'Brilliant and profound,' (bestselling author Amy Chua), Captain's Dinner strikes at the heart of a question that haunts us all: When does survival justify murder?