#maritimetragedy — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #maritimetragedy, aggregated by home.social.
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🌊 The Raft of the Medusa 🌊
The oil painting by Théodore Géricault depicts the tragedy of the French frigate Méduse in 1816 when the ship ran aground off the coast of West Africa. The ship was part of a convoy carrying colonists + officials sent to take back Senegal from the British. The captain was an aristocrat appointed due to political loyalty rather than skill - his poor navigation skills caused the ship to hit a sandbank roughly 50 kms off the coast. Without enough lifeboats, 147 people (mostly lower-class soldiers, crew, + one woman) were forced onto a hastily built wooden raft. The ship's officers + the new governor of Senegal took to the lifeboats + tried towing the raft, but cut the lines after just a few miles, casting the passengers adrift. Left without adequate food or water, those on the raft endured 13 days of madness + cannibalism before being discovered. Only 15 of the 147 people on the raft were found alive, + 5 of those died shortly after rescue.