R v Dudley and Stephens of them subsequently being cannibalised by their fellow seamen. Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket", published in 1838, features a character named Richard Parker, who, after a shipwreck, becomes a victim of cannibalism by the ship's remaining survivors. Writer Yann Martel in his 2001 novel "Life of Pi" picked up on these occurrences, and named the book's shipwrecked Bengal tiger Richard Parker. The case was also the basis for a famous Monty Python sketch, titled "Lifeboat (Cannibalism)/Still no Sign of Land". In that sketch, five sailors are on a lifeboat after a shipwreck,
Walter Richard Parker Walter Richard Parker Walter Richard Parker VC (20 September 1881 – 27 November 1936) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Parker was 33 years old, and a lance-corporal in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, Royal Marines, Royal Naval Division during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On the night of 30 April/1 May 1915 at Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli, Turkey, Lance-Corporal Parker, a volunteer stretcher-bearer,