The Medusa:Maritime Disaster That Shocked the World

In July 1816, just about everything that could have gone wrong with the Medusa did. The French ship carrying around 400 people, mostly settlers bound for Senegal, ran aground far out at sea due to an incompetent captain.

There weren’t enough lifeboats so a large but leaky raft was constructed from masts and rigging that the boats could tow ashore, said Charles Cushing, an expert who heads a naval architecture firm in New York City and teaches annuals course at the UN’s World Maritime University.

Officers and politicians got in the boats while settlers and crew boarded the raft. One by one, each boat cut the lines and set off, leaving 146 people adrift. The sun quickly scorched many to death.

Cannibalism and mutiny reigned. Only 15 survivors were eventually found alive.

"It was a scandal of huge proportions," Cushing said. A graphic painting by the artist Théodore Géricault of the raft now displayed at the Louvre ensured the public would never forget.

More on Discovery