" Richard Parker - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Partway through the book, the crew of a ship called Grampus finds themselves with a busted boat and no food or water. They manage to catch a tortoise and strip off its shell, but eventually, in order to survive, the crew draws straws to figure out which of them will be sacrificed to provide meat for everyone else. The death straw goes to a former mutineer named Richard Parker, who is promptly stabbed to death; his head, hands and feet thrown overboard (you can read the whole grisly thing here). This keeps the floating Donner Party alive a little bit longer, but the two remaining crew members are still on the brink of death when they're finally rescued." Richard Parker, who had reached the age of 17 by the time he became the victim of cannibalism at sea."
