Tarzan is based on a series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first, Tarzan of the Apes, was published in 1912. According to Bustle, it's generally accepted that, based on the publication date and the details provided in the story, Tarzan and his parents were shipwrecked sometime in the late 1880s or early 1890s. This era seems to fit with the one portrayed in the animated film.
It wasn't exactly the safest time to be alive. By 1912, luxury liners like the Titanic still weren't even required to have enough lifeboats for passengers, according to History on the Net. Traveling around the world with a baby is never easy, but, in an era before airplanes, towing around a newborn was even harder.
What was so important that Tarzan's parents decided a boat ride across the ocean was a good idea? Was there some sort of family emergency? Where were they going? What was so urgent that they were making what seems like an arduous journey with an infant?
