The Custom of the Sea: A Shocking True Tale of Shipwreck, Murder, and the Last Taboo

The inspiration for the Broadway musical Swept Away: "An exciting, historically accurate depiction of a disastrous 19th-century sea journey." -Publishers Weekly

In the late 1800s, the Essex coast of England was known for producing the toughest, most skilled seamen. Tom Dudley was one of them. Though a well-known and respected figure among the local yacht-racing community, he had little experience of deep-sea sailing. Still, he agreed to sail more than ten thousand miles to deliver a yacht to its new owner in Sydney, Australia.

Almost immediately, the twenty-year-old Mignonette starts taking on water-a harbinger for events to come. Tom stops for repairs at Southampton, where his crew abandons him. After recruiting three new men-including a teenage boy who lies about his age-Tom sets off, filled with optimism and dreams of new opportunities in a new land. But then a savage storm sinks the Mignonette, leaving Tom and his crew in a thirteen-foot-long dinghy a thousand miles from land. In a shark-filled sea, with no water and little food, the men face a horrific fate-and must sacrifice their very humanity to survive . . .

Four men set out on the Mignonette, but only three will make it back alive.

"The nightmarish events of the shipwreck are reported with real power." -The New York Times Book Review

"Makes astonishing reading . . . extraordinary." -The Times Literary Supplement

"A gripping tale of four sailors adrift at sea . . . Gruesome and completely fascinating." -Kirkus Reviews

"A terrific story . . . a riveting read." -The Spectator