In 1838, Edgar Allan Poe published his only complete novel - yeah, I didn't know that either. It was entitled The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. The story is about a young man named Arthur Gordon Pym who stows away aboard a whaling ship. It's a strange kind of story (it's Poe) full of adventure and mis-haps and they eventually become shipwrecked. As 4 survivors, clinging to the hull, are about to die of thirst and starvation, they draw lots to see who would be killed and eaten. The loser is a man named Richard Parker.
   In 1884, a real-life shipwreck happened involving a yacht named the Mignonette which was on its way to Australia. There were 4 survivors - 3 of whom were charged with murder of the fourth. Facing starvation after 16 days in a dinghy, Captain Dudley and his mates killed and ate the cabin boy. The 3 men were tried and found guilty of murder of the cabin boy, whose name was Richard Parker.

(Alan Vaughan - Incredible Coincidence)

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