Cannibals (7 page)

The rancher, Sergio Catalan, saw the dishevelled men trying to attract his attention on the far side of the river. They screamed at him and asked for him to fetch help, but the river almost drowned out the sound of their pleas. The rancher shouted back that he would return the next day. Realizing at last that they were on the verge of being rescued the men set up camp on the side of the river. Catalan managed to throw a rock across the river with a message attached to it which read:

There is a man coming later that I told him to go. Tell me what you need.

Parrado, after reading the message, sent a note back in return which said:

I come from a plane that fell in the mountains I am Uruguayan. We have been walking for ten days. I have a friend up there who is injured. In the plane there are still 14 injured people. We have to get out of here quickly and we don’t know how. We don’t have any food. We are weak. When are you going to come and fetch us? Please. We can’t even walk. Where are we? SOS.

The rancher read the note and pulled some bread out of his pocket which he threw across the river to the survivors. Three hours later another man arrived, this time on their side of the river, and he brought with him some cheese which they grabbed at hungrily. The man, Armando Serda, said he had to go off and see to his cattle but he would return to take them back to his hut, while they waited for the authorities to arrive. They couldn’t believe their luck once back at the hut, for they washed, were fed, and were given comfortable beds. It was now December 21, 70 days since the plane had crashed, and as last they were saved.

Meanwhile, back at the plane, they had been listening to the radio news telling them that their friends had been found. At first they couldn’t believe what they heard, but when they changed to a different channel and heard the same thing, they were in a state of elation. They rushed around and started to clear up the inside of the plane, and tried to make themselves look as respectable as possible. They did consider burying the remains of their dead companions, but the surface of the snow was rock hard with ice and so they thought better of it.

At around 1.00 p.m. on the 22nd, the remaining survivors heard the joyous sound of helicopters flying overhead. The first rescuer who jumped from the helicopter was greeted with elated cheers and was embraced by those of the survivors who were still able to stand. After a couple of days all the men left at the sight of the crash had been airlifted to a hospital in Santiago.

When all the survivors had been safely airlifted away from the site, it was the task of the rescuers to recover the bodies of the 29 people who had died on the mountain. But they soon realized that this was to be no ordinary case. Normally the SAR would have stayed at the site and collected the bodies taking them to Santiago for inspection and eventual release to their next of kin. However, while they discovered 14 intact bodies, only scant, unidentifiable pieces of the remaining 15 could be found. The rescue team decided to leave the remains on the mountain and wait for instructions from a higher authority.

After speaking to the victims’ families and considering all the options, it was decided that their remains would be buried on the mountainside where they were discovered. It was felt that this was the best option to avoid the further trauma of their relatives discovering that their loved ones had actually been used for food. Over the course of a few days all the remains were gathered up from inside the fuselage, and outside, were placed in body bags and moved to a shallow grave. This grave was covered in rocks and an iron cross was erected to show the place where they had died.

The wreckage of the fuselage was set on fire, destroying any evidence of the incredible ordeal that had taken place on the side of the mountain in the Andes.

The memorial placed on the grave simply said:

The world to its Uruguayan brothers – 1972
Nearer My God to Thee

Captain Cook and his crew knew little or nothing of the cultures they were about to encounter, and the islanders knew even less of them

james cook was born on October 27, 1728 in Moreton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, the son of a simple farm labourer. It is quite amazing that a man from such humble beginnings became such a prominent character in our history books.

James always had a real yearning for the sea and began an apprenticeship with a ship owner in a nearby fishing village of Whitby. While under this apprenticeship he used his time wisely and studied navigation and mathematics, to help him along his way to one day becoming a captain on his own ship. In 1755, when he was 27, James was offered the command of a north sea trader, but he decided to decline this offer in favour of joining the Navy. He enlisted as an able seaman and within a very short period of time he had earned his Master’s Warrant.

James married Elizabeth Batts in 1762 and together they had six children. James Cook was not to spend much time with his family during his lifetime, because throughout the years 1759 to 1767 James was sent by the Navy to chart parts of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the St. Lawrence river. The Admiralty were so impressed by the accuracy of his charts that they gave him what was to become one of the most well known voyages in history.

The first voyage that Captain James Cook undertook was primarily of a scientific nature. Under his command the Endeavour sailed to Tahiti in order to observe the path of the planet Venus so that they could calculate the Earth’s distance from the Sun. The ship itself was a Whitby Coal ship which weighed around 368 tons, and they set sail in August 1768. Accompanying him on his voyage were Charles Green, an astronomer from the Royal Society, and Joseph Banks, leading a party of botanists.

Cook and his party landed on the South Pacific island in April 1769 and by June of that year they had successfully completed their astronomical observations. Another purpose of this visit was to explore the South Seas to see if there was an inhabitable continent in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.

On leaving Tahiti Captain Cook and the Endeavour headed south and reached the coast of New Zealand on October 7, 1769. He made a detailed survey of the coast and established that New Zealand was not part of the Southern Continent.

Cook decided his best route home would be to sail along the then unknown eastern side of Australia (which Cook was to name New South Wales), and they reached the coast of Australia on April 19, 1770. Next the expedition headed north and, despite nearly being shipwrecked twice, they managed to explore the inner shoals of the Great Barrier Reef. As a result of Captain Cook’s surveys, both Australia and New Zealand were later annexed by Great Britain. James Cook and the Endeavour returned to England in July 1771 with a relatively healthy crew, which was quite an amazing achievement at the time. The combination of his accomplishments brought Cook notoriety and promotion, and he was promoted to Commander, which gave him the opportunity to lead further expeditions.

In 1772 James Cook set sail once more in search of the southern continent. This time his vessel was another coal ship which had been renamed the Resolution. On this voyage he was accompanied by Captain Tobias Furneaux in his ship the Adventurer. They headed south from the coast of Africa and actually sailed further south than anyone had ever been. They managed to get as far as land known as Enderby Land, but were forced back by solid ice. Cook, who had become separated from the Adventurer along the way, returned to New Zealand where he and his crew rested for a couple of months. It was here that he met up again with Captain Furneaux and once more the two ships headed out to sea, this time northwards to Tahiti and Tonga. Once again the two ships were parted when they encountered a powerful gale.

Captain Furneaux had decided to return to England after losing some of his crew to Maori cannibals. Meanwhile Cook continued his search for the southern continent but once more encountered ice. He then charted the Easter Islands, New Hebrides, the Marquesas, discovered New Caledonia, Norfolk Islands, and Palmerston. He then went on to find the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands), and South Georgia. He returned to England in July of 1775, achieving the testing of the first reliable chronometer. The amazing thing for this era was that in three years at sea only four of his crew members were lost. A tribute to Cook’s realisation that a diet including fruit was essential, thus eliminating the problem of scurvy.

In July of 1776 James Cook set sail on what was to be his final voyage, in search of the northwest passage from Europe to the east. On this voyage his ship the Resolution was joined by the Discovery which was commanded by Captain Charles Clerke. The two ships headed for the mid-Pacific Islands, discovering some of the Cook Islands, and also the Hawaiian islands. This was the voyage that earned Captain Cook the credit as the first westerner to discover the Hawaiian islands.

When the two British ships sailed past O’ahu to Kaua’i in January 1778, they were met by many canoes filled with islanders who were prepared to do battle. Luckily Cook and his men had managed to pick up several words of Tahitian in an earlier trip, and being close enough to the Hawaiian dialect the natives soon realized that these men had in fact come in peace. The boats were anchored for three days in which time they gave gifts to the natives, and also took advantage of the Hawaiian women’s sexual favours. Whilst at anchor the High Chief Kaneoneo boarded the Discovery and met with the two captains before they left the island and headed for Alaska and Canada.

Ten months later, in desperate need of provisions and a safe harbour, Captain Cook decided to return to Hawaii in the Sandwich Islands. But this was to be his last journey as the natives were celebrating victory against the neighbouring Kahekili when they arrived, and mistook the Englishmen for their great god Lono and his immortal company.

Divine honours were offered to Cook and his crew and, strangely enough, the Captain accepted them (probably because he was prepared to accept anything that made for the success of the expedition). However, it wasn’t long before the exceedingly expensive and extravagant celebrations turned into a free-for-all. Quarrels broke out, sticks and stones were freely used, and Cook decided to sail away, much to everybody’s relief.

However, within a week the Resolution had sprung her foremast, and they were back again. Trouble started almost immediately. One of the cutters was stolen, and Captain Cook put ashore to try and settle the matter. Natives crowded the beach, armed and excited. Stones were thrown and there was some firing. Cook turned, and as he did so was stabbed in the back and speared. He fell dead into the water.

Captain Cook died at the age of 51 on February 14, 1779, and will always be remembered as one of the greatest Englishmen of all time.

Just after dark on February 16, 1779, a ‘kahuna’, or holy man, rode a canoe up to the Resolution, still anchored off the coast of Hawaii. The kahuna came aboard with a bundle under his arm. Charles Clerke, the ship’s commander, unwrapped the parcel in the presence of his officers. What he found inside was a large piece of flesh which he soon saw to be human. Clerke later wrote in his journal – ‘It was clearly a part of the Thigh about 6 or 8 pounds without any bone at all.’

Two days before this, islanders had killed five of the ship’s men on the shore of Kealakekua Bay and carried off their bodies. Nothing had been seen of the corpses and Clerke and his men presumed, following their grisly offering, that their fellow men had in fact been consumed in the natives.

James Cook was one of the five men who had died on that shore and there was no way of knowing for certain if that pungent thigh had in fact belonged to him.

However, several days later, the Hawaiians delivered yet another package, this time bundled in a feathered cloak. This parcel contained scorched limbs, a scalp with the ears attached and hair cut short, but what was most distinctive were the two hands that had been scored and salted, in an apparent effort to preserve them. Fifteen years earlier, a powder horn had exploded in Captain Cook’s right hand, leaving an ugly gash. When Captain Clerke studied the hands he noticed that this most distinctive cut remained clearly visible on the severed right hand delivered to the ship.

Deserted and so hungry, followers of the First Crusade (1095–1099) reportedly turned to cannibalism

now we are travelling back in time to the 11th century to the time of the Crusades. The Crusades were holy wars which were fought by the Europeans who believed that they were upholding the Christian religion against the invasion of the Islamic religion. There were many crusades fought between the 11th and 13th centuries, but it was really only the First Crusade that had a successful outcome.

It was a time when petty disputes between rulers were generally settled by equally petty wars. Although it was not a good time to live if you were a peasant, everyone was at least united by a common religion – Christianity. Everyone, that is, from the nobles in their castles to the peasants living in their ramshackled huts, conformed to their daily form of worship. The Pope, who was the head of the Church, was considered to be God’s representative on Earth, and his word was law. He even had enough power to challenge emperors, and this power spread even into the remotest villages. A succession of popes had been constantly fighting wars with the royal houses of Europe in an effort to obtain a unified Christian empire.

In 1095 a fierce band of nomadic warriors known as the Seljuk Turks, who had recently converted to Islam, had advanced sufficiently to establish their own capital within 100 miles of Byzantium (or Istanbul as it is known today). Byzantium, however, was already the capital of the Christian Eastern Roman Empire. A state of panic was declared and Byzantium’s Emperor, Alexius, sent a message through to Pope Urban II asking for his assistance.

Pope Urban II dreamed constantly of a united Christian kingdom which would extend from the Atlantic coast into the west Holy Land itself, and all under the jurisdiction of the Pope. So when Alexius asked for his help, Urban was only too pleased to come to his aid. The only problem was that Urban was not content with just defending the capital, he wanted to free the Holy City of Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem had long been occupied by the Muslims, but he saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate his power over the ruler of Europe.

For a long time relations between Christian pilgrims and the Muslims had been peaceful. Muslim traders had provided food, transport and other essential services for the pilgrims, and the income this provided was useful to the local economy. However, with the arrival of the much more aggressive Seljuk Turks, the Christian pilgrimage became a dangerous affair.

All different kinds of people responded to the call from the Pope to go on Crusade. He toured from the south to the west of France recruiting people and spreading the news that there was to be a large convention held in Clermont, a town in central southern France. This meeting was attended by hundreds of clerics, and on the very last day the Pope himself stood up and made a speech. He told of the atrocities committed by the Turks, and pleaded with all the Christians to join forces and make a grand Crusade to liberate Jerusalem.

Many of the war-loving knights of Europe jumped at the opportunity, because they couldn’t resist the opportunity to plunder some of the richest cities in the east. Added to that, they could do it with the Pope’s blessing. So it was that knights and peasants alike marched from all the corners of Europe towards Byzantium – this was the start of the First Crusade.

Following Pope Urban II’s call for a crusade, Peter the Hermit and a knight called Walter the Penniless led a group that rushed ahead of the official expedition. They were just one of the many. This group became known as the ‘Peasants’ Crusade’ – a band of untrained and undisciplined men. As this motley crew travelled through eastern Europe towards Byzantium, demanding free food and shelter, they slaughtered thousands of people on their way. Wherever they journeyed they left their mark of violence and cruelty. They fell upon the defenceless Jews, murdering thousands in the German towns. Many of Peter’s men died before they even reached Asia, while many more were sold as slaves to pay for food. In the end only 7,000 managed to reach Asiatic soil. When they did finally meet the Turks in Nicaea, the ensuing battle was a mismatch. The Christian army was totally routed. About 4,000 of them were killed in the battle. All in all, a total of 300,000 Christians died during this march led by Peter the Hermit.

On the other hand, the force that followed were a far more organized band, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, Robert of Flanders, and Bohemond of Taranto. Godfrey of Bouillon alone led a host of 700,000 crusaders. This combined army successfully defeated the Turks at Dorylaeum in 1097, Antioch was captured in 1098, and Jerusalem fell in 1099, thus founding the Christian kingdom of Palestine.

However, while the military campaign was a success, the behaviour of the Christian army certainly did not win them any new converts. When the crusaders were attacking Antioch in northern Syria, they used the heads of slain Turks as ammunition for their primitive cannons. Apart from using the heads as ammunition, about 300 heads were placed on stakes in front of the city to demoralize the defenders of the city. The crusaders finally broke through and slaughtered all the inhabitants. This was possibly the most difficult, and most remembered battle, and it was here that 10,000 or more, were massacred on the first night. After Antioch had been captured, the Crusaders encountered the Turks once more and by the evening of July 3, 1098, the entire city was smeared with blood. Every single Turk was killed. The corpses were left lying where they died, and it wasn’t long before the plague caused by the decomposition, killed many more.

Mayhem and desperation ensued, and soon those who were left standing resorted to robbery, rape, and spent their time in a state of constant drunkenness. Then came the inevitable – famine. The crusaders had devastated so much of the country that they even had to resort to eating their own horses, reducing the cavalry from 100,000 to 2,000. Then, when the supply of horsemeat ran out, they resorted to cannibalism.

Their behaviour was even worse during the siege of Marra, where they butchered all the inhabitants, eating their flesh. Pagan adults were boiled in cooking pots, while their children were impaled on spits and consumed after they were grilled over an open fire. The massacre and carnage was seen by many, and there were numerous eye-witness accounts to preserve their evil-doing in the history books.

The crusaders arrived in Jerusalem in the summer of 1099, and recovered the Holy City after six weeks of fighting. Once again the streets ran with blood and the Jews were burned in their synagogue. Ten thousand people perished in the mosque of Omar alone. The old and sick were among the first to meet their grisly end, their bodies were slashed open in search of gold coins they could have swallowed. They were ruthless because the Pope had decreed that any spoils of war were possessions the Christians could keep – and the Christians were greedy. Seventy thousand Muslim inhabitants including men, women, and children where slaughtered. Records show how children were dismembered, babies were put on spits and roasted alive, and then consumed by the voracious crusaders.

It was impossible to look anywhere without seeing the fragments of human bodies, and the ground covered with the blood of the slain. However, as if the spectacle of headless bodies and mutilated limbs strewn in all directions was not bad enough, still more dreadful was the sight of the victors themselves, dripping with blood from head to foot, licking their lips after a meal of human flesh. An estimated one million victims died during the First Crusade, and it is certainly one worthy of being mentioned when it comes to the atrocities of cannibalism.