Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy (in the sense of low-ranking male employee, not always a minor) who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship,[1] especially running errands for the captain.
In the famous trial of Regina v. Dudley & Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273 DC, two sailors and a cabin boy were shipwrecked and cast adrift in a small boat without provisions. To save themselves, the sailors killed and ate the cabin boy. They were later convicted of murder, despite their claimed defense of necessity.[2]
Popular Culture
- Cabin Boy, a 1994 film
- Captain Pugwash, a British television children's animated series about a hapless Captain and his crew; Tom, the cabin boy, is depicted as the most intelligent member of the crew.
- Treasure Island, where the main character Jim serves as a cabin boy on the boarding of the ship the Hispaniola.
References
- ^ Concise Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press 1999, entry "Cabin boy"
- ^ Simpson, A. W. B. (1984). Cannibalism and the Common Law: The Story of the Tragic Last Voyage of the Mignonette and the Strange Legal Proceedings to Which It Gave Rise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226759425.
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