In July 1987, a violent mutiny aboard the 65-foot shrimp boat Leslie Rae unfolded more than 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, shocking Florida’s Space Coast and leading to one of the rare mutiny prosecutions in modern U.S. history.
According to court records and contemporary reporting, two crew members attacked Captain Phillip Roush and First Mate Willie Charpentier during a late-night confrontation at sea. The captain was killed and thrown overboard, while the first mate survived by swimming for hours in open water before being rescued.
Federal prosecutors charged the attackers with mutiny and murder—an uncommon charge in civilian maritime cases. Both men were ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Nearly four decades later, the Leslie Rae case remains one of the most notorious maritime crime stories tied to Cape Canaveral and Florida’s Atlantic coast, remembered as a chilling example of how quickly tensions can turn deadly on the open ocean.
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