Medusa Research Paper

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The Medusa, led by Hugo de Chaumareys, set sail in June of 1816, aiming to restore Senegal which had been colonized by the English. It carried almost 400 passengers, including settlers, scientists, the new governor of Senegal and an army regiment that had previously fought for Napoleon. The captain was an old, incompetent man unable of maneuvering the dangerous waters. He also had outdated naval experience as he hadn’t commanded a ship in over 2 decades. He refused to listen to advice of the more able officers causing the ship to wreck. De Chaumareys misjudged an important landmark and the Medusa ran aground on the notorious Arguin Bank off the African shore. When the Medusa struck the treacherous reef, the captain did not go down with the ship. …show more content…
For 147 sailors and other passengers or as Miles puts it “a grab bag of rough, drunken soldiers and sailors” a raft was constructed. A few looked at the already sinking raft and decided to stay on the sinking boat instead. At first this raft was tied to the lifeboats as the passengers were promised that they would be towed to safety but after a few minutes at sea an officer lowered a hatchet which cut the rope attaching the raft to the lifeboat; the other lifeboats pulled away. Those aboard the lifeboats later met a vicious fate in the Senegalese desert. The raft only carried a few caskets of wine and some soggy biscuits. The men and one woman aboard the raft soon displayed what the human species is really capable of. 60 people were dead by dawn with only 1 casket of wine remaining. In the next few days more passengers died from more murder, suicide, sickness, famine and cannibalism. The last survivors spotted the French ship, Argus, after 12 days, only to watch it disappear. Shortly after just 2 hours the ship reappeared because of a change in the wind. The raft was found 13 days later and only 15 men had
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