Owen Chase

The Illustrated Wreck of the Whaleship Essex: 200th Anniversary Edition Owen Chase

A nice edition commemorating the 200th anniversary of the sinking of the Essex. Contains 22 illustrations and maps.

The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex recounts the story of the American whaler Essex from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. In 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., she was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. Stranded thousands of miles from the coast of South America with little food and water, the 20-man crew was forced to make for land in the ship's surviving whaleboats. The men suffered severe dehydration, starvation, and exposure on the open ocean, and the survivors eventually resorted to eating the bodies of the crewmen who had died. When that proved insufficient, members of the crew drew lots to determine whom they would sacrifice so that the others could live. A total of seven crew members were cannibalized before the last of the eight survivors were rescued, more than three months after the sinking of the Essex. First mate Owen Chase wrote this account of the ordeal. The tragedy inspired Herman Melville to write his now famous novel Moby-Dick.