Sailors are known to have lots of strange Customs while out at Sea like some Sailors believe that bananas are bad luck and so will not bring them on board their vessel while other Sailors believe it’s good luck to throw one of their crew members overboard and then reel him back in before beginning a fishing trip that somehow that will enhance your chances of catching more fish but while a lot of these customs of the sea are pretty harmless and kind of goofy there’s one custom of the sea that is not at all it is extremely serious and very very dark. It’s known simply as the DELICATE QUESTION and in short once a sailor asks this delicate question under certain circumstances there’s no going back for that crew.

On the morning of February 6, 1821 four young men stood on the deck of a small boat out in the Pacific Ocean the sun was out it was beautiful and warm the water was crystal blue but none of these four men were paying any attention to their surroundings instead all of them were just standing there in total silence staring at each other finally one of the four men spoke up his name was Owen coffin and he was 18 years old and Owen like the other three men had grown up on the water. In fact all four of these men had grown up on the small island called Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, where the main industry there was whaling which meant Sailors like these four men would go out and hunt whales and slaughter them for their oil so from the time Owen and the rest of these men were very little they were out on the water learning how to sail and they were also learning the customs of the sea and there was one custom in particular that Owen wanted to talk about about right now with the other three men so in a very serious and hushed tone Owen asked the question of the other three men that Sailors referred to as the delicate question and after Owen asked the so-called delicate question the other three men who were already very serious and just kind of standing there in silence.

Suddenly, their eyes started to go wide and their mouths went to gape and then again all of the men just kind of fell into total silence the only sound they could hear was the splashing of the Waves against the side of the boat the captain of this vessel was a man named George Pollard he was 28 years old and he was actually Owen’s older cousin and what George wanted to say to Owen in response to his delicate question was no but George didn’t say that instead he just put his hands up over his mouth and stared kind of incredulously at Owen and the other two men who were also teenagers their names were George and barzillai and as he stared at these other three men he realized that their answers to the delicate question was a resounding yes they knew it had to be a yes they had to do this and even though George could totally override them because he was the captain and so technically in charge he knew in this situation under this particular custom he couldn’t overrule them and so with his hands still over his mouth, George just nodded a yes. 

YES !! let’s go forward with this custom….

… and so with a unanimous decision to move forward Owen slowly reached down and pulled out the ship’s logbook from underneath one of the seats behind him and then he opened up the book and he flipped to the back pages of the logbook which were totally blank and he grabbed one of the pieces of paper and he ripped it out of the book then Owen began to rip this piece of paper into strips first he ripped three identically long pieces of paper and he held up all three at the same time to show the others that these are the three that are the same and each of the three nodded their head yes we see that and then Owen reached down he grabbed the paper again and he ripped a fourth strip out and this one was dramatically shorter than the other three and so Owen held up this much shorter piece and he showed Charles George and barzi Lai and again they all kind of nodded in agreement yes we see that’s the short piece and so once the whole group was satisfied that they had their four strips Owen took off his hat, he put all four strips inside mixed it around and held out his hat it was time the first man to reach into Owen’s hat was Owen’s older cousin and the captain George he reached in he pulled one of the strips of paper out closed it in his fist so he had no idea which one it was and pulled it back and held it close to his chest and then one by one each of the other men did the same thing reaching in grabbing their strip not looking at it and holding it against their chest and then once all the strips had been taken at the exact same time all four men extended their hands into the middle of the circle they were staying standing in and they open their hands Palm up to reveal which strip they got and George Charles and barzi Lai all had the identical long pieces and Owen the 18 year old the younger cousin of the captain the one who had ripped up the strips he had the short strip and immediately when his older cousin George saw this he yelled out no let me take that one but Owen said NO this is customary, I want this and so after a few moments of the men kind of collecting themselves and calming down Charles then grabbed the logbook again flipped to the back of it pulled out another blank page and he ripped it into strips again except now he was only ripping them into three strips too long that were identical and one short and once again as he ripped them he held them up to show the other men to show this was a fair process then Charles took off his hat put the three strips inside and extended it to George and barzilai Owen was not a part of this round and so George and barzi lie one by one reached in took their strip held it to their chest and then Charles he would take the last strip he would hold it to his chest and then once all the men had their pieces they held their hands out into the middle of their now smaller Circle they opened their hands Palm up and this time it would be Charles the man who ripped up this second round who would discover he had the short strip and as soon as Charles saw this he threw it on the ground and he ran to the other side of the boat and began screaming- ” I can’t do this” , “I can’t do it”. 

Meanwhile Owen George and Barzilai didn’t even move or flinch. They just stood there waiting for Charles to calm down because they knew he knew this was a very important custom and once you begin doing it you can’t just stop Charles would have to come back over and play his role and so after a few minutes of Charles still kind of calling out that he couldn’t do this he couldn’t do this. Tears are coming down his face he finally wiped the tears he calmed himself down and he walked back over to the group who again they hadn’t moved. 

George, Barzilai and Owen they’re just standing there waiting to continue this custom and so as Charles began coming back over Looking ready to continue George without even saying anything reached down and unlatched a door on the side of the boat he opened it up he reached in and he pulled out this long object that was wrapped in canvas and then he handed this object to Charles and then once Charles had possession of this object Owen the man who had first drawn the short piece of paper said to the group now it’s time for a moment of silence even though at this point none of the men were talking but still they formed a tight circle with Charles holding this object and they all bowed their heads and they just stood there in total silence and then once Owen raised his head the other three did as well and Owen one by one touched the shoulders of each of the men and reminded them that this had been a fair process then without saying another word Owen turned away from the group he walked over to the edge of the boat looking out over the water he got down on his knees he made sure his posture was good and he looked out over the water Owen had always loved the ocean even though his own father had died out at sea but this particular whaling Expedition that Owen had been on he thought went extremely well and he was very proud of what they had all accomplished and Owen was especially proud to be a part of this particular custom. 

This custom was one that so few people ever took part in but all Sailors knew about it it was kind of like the Forbidden custom and here he was playing a central role which really required a lot of strength and so feeling very proud of himself Owen after looking out over the water for a few more moments he bent down and put his chin on the edge of the boat which signaled to Charles it was time and then once Charles saw that Owen was in position he stepped away from George and barzi Lai and walked over to Owen carrying this object wrap Captain canvas and then once he was right behind Owen without saying a word to him he unwrapped the object and it was a rifle and once the rifle was uncovered he placed the barrel against the back of Owen’s head and then he fired a shot and instantly Owen slept to the ground dead and Charles kind of staggered back and fell on the deck and let out the strangled scream he couldn’t believe what he had just done but he knew there was no other choice once they decided to do this sacred custom they had to take it to the end and so George who had just witnessed the execution of his younger cousin was deeply troubled and pained but he too knew they had to bring this custom to the finish line which meant it was George’s turn to step forward and play his part and so George walked up to his now dead younger cousin and George pulled out a serrated knife and cut off Owen’s head and then once Owen’s head was removed he placed it on the deck so Owen’s face was looking away away from the other man like he couldn’t see what they were going to do and then once the head was in place George went back to Owen’s body and began cutting him open and pulling his organs out and handing them to Charles and Barzilai ,George also began cutting off long strips of Owen’s flesh creating sort of like fillets and then even though there was a spot on the boat to have a fire the three men decided they just could not wait and before long the only sound that could be heard on board this little boat floating out at Sea on the Pacific Ocean was the sound of Charles, George and Barcelai tearing into Owen’s raw flesh with their teeth turning their beards bright red.

with his blood the delicate question that Owen asked the other men at the beginning of this story was one of the most feared questions amongst Sailors and it was only asked if there was a shipwreck or some sort of emergency that happened out at Sea which meant the group had almost no chance of survival only in those circumstances was the delicate question appropriate and what it was was do we draw lots to determine which one of us dies so the other can eat them in order to have a better chance at survival and so during that first round when Owen had drawn the short strip of paper that determined he would be the one who was murdered and eaten and then in the second round when Charles Drew the short strip of paper that meant he would be the one to kill Owen.

On February 6, 1821 the day that Owen posed the delicate question he and the other three men had been lost at sea for the past three months after a whale had struck the side of their whaling boat and left them adrift with almost no food and no water there had been other men on board the Essex who had died from starvation and exposure and their bodies had been consumed by the surviving Sailors until on February 6th they were down to just these four men and no more bodies to eat which is why they decided it was time they had to ask the delicate question 17 days after Owen sacrificed himself so the others could eat him another boat happened to drift past these stranded Essex boat which now only contained Charles and George barzi Lai had died of starvation five days after they killed Owen and barzilai had been eaten by George and Charles as well and as this other ship passed by the Essex and they looked on board all they saw were skeletons of the men that had died and been eaten and Charles and George were on opposite ends of the boat curled up in a ball chewing on human finger bones trying to get the last bits of flesh off and their bodies were totally emaciated their hair and their beards were wild they looked totally feral and then when this boat actually came up alongside the Essex and boarded to rescue Charles and George Charles and George looked terrified it was like they had totally lost their grip on reality they had been lost at sea for 94 days and had consumed all of their friends and so it makes sense they might go kind of crazy but after this crew was able to get Charles and George fed and get them water and cleaned up they kind of regained their composure and their sanity and they were very thankful and happy to be alive the story of what happened to the crew of the Essex quickly spread all around the world and in fact it served as inspiration for Herman Melville to write his classic American novel “Moby Dick.”