# How common was "Draw straws to determine who will be eaten" in maritime disasters?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-draw-straws-to-determine-who-will-be-eaten-in-maritime-disasters/967761>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 11, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-draw-straws-to-determine-who-will-be-eaten-in-maritime-disasters/967761 "2022-07-11T14:42:02Z")\
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**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-draw-straws-to-determine-who-will-be-eaten-in-maritime-disasters/967761/35 "2024-04-19T23:50:31Z")

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So I stand corrected on this one. It was actually relatively common, it was considered part of custom of the sea. I just listened to episode of the excellent The Constant podcast on this very subject:

> **[Necessity](https://www.constantpodcast.com/episodes/necessity)**
>
> Your second favorite series about putting right what once went wrong

The key point about starvation vs dying of thirst thing is that the victims blood can be drunk(as long as you don’t wait for them to die naturally and then for it to coagulate.) It was so common that the British government decided there needed to be a test case to show that it wasn’t in fact a legal defense to excuse killing someone:

> **[R v Dudley and Stephens](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens)**
>
> R v Dudley and Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273, DC is a leading English criminal case which established a precedent throughout the common law world that necessity is not a defence to a charge of murder. The case concerned survival cannibalism following a shipwreck, and its purported justification on the basis of a custom of the sea. 
> The four-man crew of the wrecked yacht Mignonette were cast adrift in a small lifeboat without provisions. After nearly three weeks at sea, and with little hope of re...

Also the podcaster pointed out that while there were plenty of cases of allegedly “drawing lots” (described by the survivors naturally) they all tender to result in the weakest, childless, or for some other reason the one that the crew would want to be the victim, being chosen.

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