The Short Straw (The Horrible Fate of the Francis Spaight)

It's our Irish episode fiends, and boy did we find an eerie tale this year!

Just before Christmas in 1835 the British merchant ship, The Angerona, was on it's way from Newfoundland to Teignmouth when the captain spotted something strange. Off in the distance he saw a large vessel, ravaged by a storm, with no masts. Normally this would have signified a total loss of life, but as they got closer the captain saw something that would be burned into his brain for the rest of his life. There were men on the deck of this ruined ship, and they were jumping up and down, waving dismembered human arms and legs. The ship was called The Francis Spaight, it was an Irish transport ship from Limerick. The men aboard had been stranded for 20 days without food or water in freezing tempretures. Of the 18 original crew members, just 11 had survived... and 4 had fallen victim to an ancient tradition called: The Custom of the Sea.

Click to learn more

http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Clare/1836/JAN.html

https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/1314029-the-custom-of-the-sea

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0812/1315357-irish-cannibals-on-the-high-seas-documentary-on-one/

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71608919

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spaight-24

 

 

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