Minotaur at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" to the Minotaur. Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, be sent every seventh or ninth year (some accounts say every year) to be devoured by the Minotaur. When the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster. He promised his father, Aegeus, that he would put up a white sail on his journey back home if he was successful, but would have the crew put up black sails if he was killed. In Crete, Minos' daughter Ariadne fell madly in
HMS Minotaur (1793) M. W. Turner depicted the sinking, though the subject was not originally the "Minotaur", but a generic merchant ship. Turner had been producing sketches in preparation for the painting as early as 1805, but by the time he had completed the painting in 1810, the recent wreck of "Minotaur" was a subject of much discussion. He named the painting to capitalise on this public interest. The shipwreck of "Minotaur" remains the largest ever, in terms of loss of life, on the Dutch coast, with the possible exception of the loss of "HMS Hero" on 24/25 December 1811, on the same