Customer Reviews

Wreck of the Medusa: Mutiny, Murder, and Survival on the High Seas

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A great adventure story, but an even better study of leadership in a crisis.

La Méduse was a French frigate that sank off the coast of Mauretania on its way to Senegal in 1816. There were 400 people on board; some survived, some did not. Like the Titanic 96 years later, there were boats enough for only half of the passengers. But unlike the Titanic, the captain of La Méduse quickly left his ship in the best lifeboat. What happened to the others, who provided the leadership, who survived and why - all provide a fascinating study on these subjects.

An interesting further insight is "just how do these things happen, anyway?" Although ocean voyages in the sail-powered wooden ships of the early 19th century were more hazardous than those of today, this was a mundane voyage with little danger, yet one that ended in a totally preventable catastrophe when the captain took a shortcut through a known navigational hazard. Yet the reasons for this - and the blame - are complex and not confined to a single cause or person.

Why do things go wrong in business today? You can see the same forces at work as there were in France of 1816:
- An unqualified person appointed to a leadership position due to his connections.
- An important participant who was so focused on achieving a single results that he goaded others into unwise actions.
- A faulty organizational structure.
- Ignoring the advice of experienced people who saw the impending danger.
- Individuals who are so locked in competition with others nearby them that they ignore greater mutual dangers.
- Failure to prepared and to plan ahead.
- And of course, hubris.

Sounds just like a lot of corporate stories of the modern world, even if we have fewer fatalities today. All part of the human experience, it seems.

The author drew from the first hand accounts of several survivors to craft an absolutely riveting narrative. What these people endured is unbelievable. The second half of the book attempts an analysis of group psychology in disaster situations, comparing the Medusa to other shipwrecks and even the hijacking of jumbo jets in the 70s. This is a fascinating idea, but in the end I was disappointed. The author's admitted lack of expertise in psychology was evident: the comparisons were shallow, and some of the conclusions speculative and unconvincing. Also, the author's foreshadowing of modern science's explanations for some of the unusual psychological phenomena experienced by the victims of the Medusa were not sufficiently resolved. I am left wanting more answers; but perhaps there simply are none to be had. My conclusion: If ever shipwrecked, expect the worst, and that probably won't be the half of it.

The book is generally exciting and full of the horrors of the wrecking of the Medusa and the stuggles of the castaways. The book is so detailed about the actual grounding and wrecking of the ship that one wonders how the author was able to come up with such fine details of something that took place in 1816. It truly reads more like a novel and makes me wonder if the author didn't have to "fill in" a lot of blank spaces. Still it is a good book and well worth reading.

A fascinating book! One you can't put down. A brutal, yet interesting account of life as it was " back then".