417: The Shipwreck of the Mignonette w/ Adam Cohen

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism.Their decision to sacrifice the youngest —17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker—ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. 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—a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today. My guest is bestselling author Adam Cohen. His new book, published on November 18th, is called "Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History". The author's website: http://adamscohenwriter.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:31.1	A world on fire. Nations collapsing, ideologies clashing, and ordinary men and women caught in the storm.
0:39.3	Hi, I'm Ray Harris Jr. of the History of World War II podcast,
0:43.2	and we'll cover the battles that shaped the war, from the deserts of North Africa to the frozen forests of the Ardennes.
0:49.9	Because history isn't just names and dates. It's people, choices, and consequences at World War II podcast.net.
1:32.0	Thank you. Welcome, everyone to another episode of the Most Notorious Podcast. I'm Eric Rivenis.
1:39.3	Hope you are having a wonderful December. I am very excited to have Adam Cohen with me. He is a journalist and lawyer, a former member of the New York Times editorial board, and the author of five books.
1:46.5	His latest, which came out on November 18th, is called Captain's Dinner, a shipwreck,
1:53.5	an act of cannibalism, and a murder that changed legal history.
1:58.9	Welcome to Most Notorious, great meeting you, and thank you for joining me.
2:04.2	Oh, it's my pleasure to be here.
2:06.4	So what first got you interested in the story of the minuet shipwreck? And when did it turn from
2:14.3	an interesting legal case into a full-length book?
2:19.5	Okay, great question, and there's a very funny answer.
2:21.7	So when I was a first-year law student, my law school roommate and I gave a Halloween party,
2:28.6	and our theme was, come as your favorite case or legal doctrine.
2:32.8	And people came as many funny things.
	...

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