Suspended animation in fiction which is indistinguishable from death. In American fiction, the first story to deal with suspended animation is the tale of Rip Van Winkle, a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819 as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. In the story, a British subject in the American colonies wanders into the Catskill Mountains in the years before the American Revolutionary War, and finds a group of fairies, whose moonshine he drinks. He then falls asleep for 20 years, and returns to his village in what is now the United States, finding his home town
MV Rip Van Winkle also offers various specialty cruises throughout the year, such as music cruises and murder mystery dinner party cruises, and can be chartered for parties and weddings. "Rip Van Winkle" was built to be an oil industry shore well platform service vessel, by Edward T. Gamage in East Boothbay, Maine in 1980. She was purchased by Charles Robertson, owner of the New England Steamboat lines, who converted the boat to passenger service. An upper deck was added as were lavatories, snack bar and liquid bar. She was put into service in 1982 out of Haddam CT to Greenport and Sag Harbor,