In 1816, the French frigate La Méduse ran aground off the coast of West Africa after its wildly unqualified captain ignored experienced sailors and common sense. When lifeboats proved scarce, the elite sailed away—leaving 146 men and one woman behind on a makeshift raft built for cargo, not humans. What followed was nearly two weeks of starvation, violence, madness, and cannibalism on the open sea. Their suffering would later be immortalized in one of the most haunting paintings in history, The Raft of the Medusa—a brutal exposé of power, privilege, and human desperation.
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