In 1838 an arguably unfinished novel by Edgar Allan Poe titled The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published. Unlike his other more gothic work, this was a pirate adventure. In the book four men are adrift at sea after being shipwrecked. One of them, Richard Parker, is killed and then eaten by the other three so that they may survive. Forty-six years later a ship called the Mignonette sunk in the South Atlantic, leaving four survivors on a lifeboat. In order to survive, the crew were forced to kill and eat one of their members. His name was Richard Parker.
