Sawer Geoffrey : Australian and the Law (Pelican) Book

This reads, in language, like a Monty Python sketch. Where the dialogue is nominally serious, but little bits of dry humor crack in, here without the humor. The book is about a single yachting accident and subsequent investigation and trial, where the survivors kill a weakened member of their crew and eat him to stay alive. The captain that did the killing is open about it when rescued, and gives a faithful-ish recount to those who investigate him.

None of that is a spoiler, it's in the first chapter/prologue.

The book then goes into the larger practice of cannibalism at sea by "Western" sailors to stay alive, and how much leeway captains and sailors had in their actions at sea in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The book is mostly as dry as white toast, with some more salacious bits thrown in. It is written by someone who clearly idolizes/romanticizes the British sailing and yachting culture (more the latter). This is obvious by the level of detail in the descriptions of the yachts. It'd be like a story about interpersonal relationships among race car drivers, with very specific specs given as to the car's HP, torque, weight, frame shape, welding style, etc. You could tell it was written by a gearhead. Here, then is a "gearhead" of British yachts of the 1800s. I think that's where the Monty Python feel comes in, with the almost comical level of detail about things that ABSOLUTELY DONT MATTER TO THE STORY AT ALL. But if you love the topic, you will write what you want to write.

I found myself skipping past the 40th, 50th, 100th detailed description of yachts and other sailing ships (beam, forecastle design, rigging, etc) to get to the human story of how, why and when we resort to cannibalism. Odd, again, that a book about the topic should mostly be a mayonnaise sandwich.

If you are looking for something at the opposite end, something that is basically a TMZ/pop-journalism article about cannibalism, comprised almost entirely of first-person accounts to historians, then check out Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present ... escapes and heart-rending fatalities.. It's in the public domain for download, and is the equivalent of tabloid journalism in book form. Guilty pleasure.