Featured Books
-
Recent Comments
- Nevieen Selim on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- Maine group in running for decommissioned JFK : Old Salt Blog – a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea on Free Aircraft Carrier – ex USS John F Kennedy Available for Donation to Appropriate Group
- Mohamamd Rahim Rama khel advocate on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- Maritime Monday 200 on The Necker Nymph – Sir Richard Branson’s New Underwater Plane
- Maritime Monday 200 on US Postal Service Honors Sailors with Stamps
- CAPT. D. Peter Boucher, MN (Ret.) on Bob Barker in a Collision with Whale Ship – Dangerous Games & Finger Pointing
- Mohamamd Rahim Rama khel advocate on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- The Good Ship A.J. Fuller : Old Salt Blog – a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea on Under Sail by Felix Riesenberg – A Review
- Nevieen Selim on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- Nevieen Selim on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- Nevieen Selim on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- Book Review: Skipjack; The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen - Casco Bay Boaters Blog on Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White – A Review
- Rick on US Postal Service Honors Sailors with Stamps
- Miss O'Gyny on US Postal Service Honors Sailors with Stamps
- Mohamamd Rahim Rama khel advocate on The Sinking of the Danny F II
- The Sinking of the Danny F II
- Old Salt on Huffpo: Whale Wars - Eco-Terrorism as Reality TV
- The City of Adelaide - the Oldest & Just Barely Surviving Clipper Ship
- The Sinking of the Ady Gil - How it may haunt the Sea Shepherds
- Captain Phillips Attempts Escape but is Recaptured as Navy Stands By
- Of Tall Ships and Stupid Lawyers
- Arming Merchant Ship Crews - the "Obvious Answer" that may be Simply Wrong
- LEGO Ship Modeling? HMS Prince of Wales in LEGOs
- Sinking the USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg
- Defying Empire - Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York, a Review
-
Links
Authors
History
- Age of Nelson
- American Merchant Marine at War
- American War of Independence at Sea
- Broadside – Home of Nelson’s Navy
- Henry Hudson 400
- HMS Resolute
- MaritimeHistory.info
- Navy Records Society
- The Gaspee Virtual Archives
- The Maritime History Virtual Archives
- The Nelson Society
- The Society for Nautical Research
- Titanic International Society
Lore of the Sea
- Allen C. Rawl, Master Builder, Ships of Wood
- Animated Knots by Grog
- Friends of the Falls of Clyde
- Furled Sails – Sailing Podcasts
- Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping
- Hakluyt Society
- HistoricNavalFiction.com
- Isle of Tortuga
- John’s Nautical & Boatbuilding Page
- Maritime Information Association
- Pirate’s Cove
- Pirates and Privateers
- Sailing-New-England.com
- Seaworthy Publications
- Shark Diver
- Ships and Yacht Information
- Songs of the Sea
- Stan Hugill
- The American Sail Training Association
- The Era of the Clipper Ships
- The Maritime Heritage Project
- William Falconer’s Dictionary of the Marine
Magazines
Maritime and Nautical Blogs
- 70.8percent
- Age of Sail blog
- Annapolis Royal Heritage
- Armchair Captain
- Bay of Fundy Blog
- BitterEnd
- Boating Bible Manual of Seamanship Blog
- Bowsprite: A New York Harbor Sketchbook
- Casco Bay Boaters Blog
- Chine bLog
- Coast Guard Compass
- Desert Sea – New Mexico Sailing
- DoryMan
- EagleSpeak
- frogma
- Fyddeye
- gCaptain
- HAWSEPIPER: THE LONGEST CLIMB
- Henry’s Obsession
- Indigenous Boats
- intheboatshed.net
- Jack Tar Magazine
- Kennebec Captain
- Man the Capstan
- Marine Café Blog
- MarineBuzz.com
- Maritime Compass
- Maritime Texas
- Messing About In Sailboats
- Nautical Log
- Notes from the Wooden and Iron World
- One More Good Adventure
- Scaryfangirl’s Hornblower site
- Sea Fever Blog
- Seafarerblog.com
- Ship of the Day
- Ship Talk
- Shipspotting.com
- Shirlaw News Group
- Tabor Boy Project
- Thad’s daily log
- The Good Old Boat Redwing
- The Keeper’s Blog
- The Maritime Blog
- The Merchant Marine Express
- The Tall Ships Blog
- The View From the Deck
- Timmynocky
- Tugster: a waterblog
- Uglyships.com
- Wake of the Windjammers
- Walks in the Marsh
- Yacht Pals
Maritime and Nautical Forums & Boards
Museums
- Australian National Maritime Museum
- Erie Maritime Museum
- Grays Harbor Historical Seaport
- Maine Maritime Museum
- Maritime Museum of San Diego
- Museum of Underwater Archaeology
- Mystic Seaport Museum
- National Maritime Museum, UK
- New Bedford Whaling Museum
- Palm Beach Maritime Museum
- Royal Naval Museum
- South Street Seaport Museum
- Texas Seaport Museum
- The Mariner’s Museum
Photography & Art
Professional Associations
Publishers & Booksellers
Scuba and Skin Diving
Tall & Historic Ships
- Californian
- Captain Dave’s Schooner Links
- Carlotta – 1899 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter
- City of Adelaide
- Falls of Clyde
- Historic Vessels of New York Harbor
- HMS Bounty
- HMS ROSE
- HMS Surprise
- Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
- Lady Washington
- Lettie G. Howard
- Lighthouse Tender Lilac
- North Star of Herschel Island
- Nova Scotia Schooner Association
- Pride of Baltimore II
- Privateer Schooner Lynx
- S.S. Columbia
- Schooner A.J. Meerwald
- Schooner Amistad
- Schooner Pioneer
- Schooner Sultana
- Schooner Virginia
- Star of India
- Steam Tug MASTER
- Tall Ship Eagle
- Tall Ship ELISSA
- Tall Ship Soren Larsen
- The American Sail Training Association
- U.S. Brig NIAGARA
Tags
A.J. Meerwald Arctic Sea Australia Captain Richard Phillips City of Adelaide Falls of Clyde Gulf of Aden Haiti Halifax Hawaii Henry Hudson HMS Bounty HMS Victory hudson river Indian Ocean Maersk Alabama Maine Massachusetts mystic seaport Nelson Newport new york new york harbor Nova Scotia Oasis of the Seas Odyssey Marine Exploration Patrick O'Brian Pearl Harbor piracy pirate pirates Queensland ransom Rhode Island Richard Phillips Royal Navy schooner sinking somali somalia Somali pirates Tall & Historic Ships tall ship Titanic US Navy







George Washington's Secret Navy



by Linda Collison



Alaric Bond
Steady As She Goesby John Molloy




In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick – A Review
Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex was published not quite a decade ago, so we are a bit late in reviewing it. (Our excuse is that the blog is only about one year old.) Nevertheless, this seems like a good day to review the book, exactly 189 years from the day that a rogue sperm whale attacked and sank the whale ship Essex.
On this day in 1820, at eight in the morning, the lookout on the whaleship Essex, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, saw spouts. As author Nathaniel Philbrick writes, “It was good day for killing whales.”
It did not turn out to be so. Three whale boats were launched and two killed their prey while the third was damaged by a harpooned whale. Not long after they hauled the damaged boat aboard the Essex, an 80 foot long sperm whale rammed the ship twice and sank it. Philbrick writes, “Never before in the entire history of the Nantucket whale fishery, had a whale been known to attack a ship.”
This began an epic voyage by the crew of the Essex across the Pacific, twenty men in three whale boats, which would end in cannibalism and near madness. Only eight would survive. The sinking of the Essex would be the inspiration for the Melville’s classic Moby Dick.
Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex retells the once famous but now largely forgotten story of the unlucky ship, from its departure from Nantucket to its sinking, the horrific voyage in the whale boats and beyond. Using original documents and diaries, Philbrick recreates the world of the indomitable whalers of Nantucket and with great skill retells the difficult story of the sinking of the Essex and its aftermath.
Once the crew of the Essex found themselves in the three crowded boats they made a fundamental mistake. Rather than sailing for the closest land, the islands of the Marquesas, they decided to sail south then west to South America. They knew almost nothing about the islands but had heard that the Marquesas were inhabited by savages who practiced cannibalism. Ironically, their choice to take the longer course would end in cannibalism by the crew of the Essex themselves.
Almost as fascinating is the account of the survivors return to Nantucket. The Captain George Pollard was given the command of another whaling ship, the Two Brothers, the highest compliment that could be paid to him under the circumstances. Unfortunately, the ship was caught in storm and lost on reefs west of Hawaii. He would return to Nantucket but would never go to sea again. Instead he became the town’s night watchman, a position he held until his death.
The Essex’s mate, Owen Chase would write a book about the sinking of the ship. Though he initially had to sail out of New Bedford, after several successful voyages in command of a New Bedford whaler, he was accepted back on Nantucket and given command of the whaling ship Charles Carroll.
In 1840, two decades after the sinking of the Essex, a young sailor named Herman Melville in the Pacific on the whaler Acushnet, met William Henry Chase, Owen Chase’s teenage son, who gave him a copy of his father’s book. Melville remembered, “The reading of this wondrous story upon the landless sea, and so close to the the very latitude of the shipwreck had a surprising effect upon me.” When Melville’s novel Moby Dick was published in 1851, it was a critical and financial failure.
Fortunately Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea received a warmer reception. It was a winner of the National Book Award in Nonfiction, was included in Time Magazine’s Best Books of the Year 2000 and was included in Fortune’s 75 The Smartest Books We Know. The awards are well deserved. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a gripping and fascinating book. Highly recommended.
Tags: Herman Melville, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Moby Dick, Nantucket, Nathaniel Philbrick, new bedford, whaleship Essex
Comments
4 Responses to “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick – A Review”
Leave a Reply
Video of the Moment
HMS Surprise and Star of India
Also featuring the Californian
and the Lynx
Popular Posts
Copyright © 2009· Richard Spilman









I couldn’t put it down. An amazingly well written book.
Philbrick is a wonderful writer.
Wow! I never knew that the classic Moby Dick was inspired by a true story. “The sinking of the Essex would be the inspiration for the Melville’s classic Moby Dick.”
It appears that Moby Dick was inspired by at least two true stories. We know that Melville was given a copy of the book written by Owen Chase, the mate on the Essex, around 1840, which provided Melville with the ending of the novel.
Melville appears to have merged the story of the Essex with the account of “Mocha Dick,” a white sperm whale that was hunted in the Pacific from around 1810 to 1838 when he was finally killed. Mocha Dick was a large sperm whale at around 70 feet long but was still smaller than the whale which sank the Essex which was said to be roughly eighty feet overall.
As bizarre as it may seem, most of the events in Moby Dick are based on factual accounts. Mocha Dick was a white whale, which was hunted for decades by Nantucket whalers before it was finally killed, and a sperm whale did indeed ram and sink the whale ship Essex. The characters and structure of Melville’s masterwork are all his own, but the story sticks closely to recorded history.