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The Earliest Picture of the. Essex. Disaster. Nantucket History Topics: The Whaleship Essex, Whaling. Cyprien Gaulon (b. 1777), Sinking of the Nantucket Whaleship Essex by a Whale on 20 November 1820. Colored lithograph, (12 3/8” x 16 7/8”). Bordeaux, France, 1821/22.
Essex (1799 whaleship), was launched in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and made seven recorded whaling voyages; she is most famous for the last, which ended when a whale rammed and sank her in November 1820.
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The Whaleship. Essex. On November 20, 1820, an enraged sperm whale rammed and sank the Nantucket whaleship Essex in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 1,300 miles from the nearest land. Twenty sailors survived the attack and quickly outfitted their three small whaleboats to make a journey to safety.
Dec 8, 2021 · HISTORY. The Harrowing Ordeal of the Essex, the Ship That Was Sunk by a Whale. This terrifying wreck, and its cannibalistic aftermath, inspired Moby Dick. By Carolyn Cox | Published Dec 8, 2021. 'Sinking of the Nantucket Whaleship Essex by a Whale on 20 November 1820' by Cyprien Gaulon, c. 1821. Photo Credit: Nantucket Historical Association.
- Carolyn Cox
- The Whaleship Essex Sets Sail on Its Final Voyage
- A Sperm Whale Strikes
- The Desperate Crew Resorts to Cannibalism
- The Men Are Saved, 90 Days Later
- The Tale Inspires Herman Melville to Write Moby-Dick
As America marched through the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, whale products became invaluable commodities. Whale blubber was used to make candles and oil, which heated lamps and lubricated machinery. Whale bone was also harvested for the ribs in women’s corsets, umbrellas, and petticoats. As such, whaling was a booming American industr...
Whaling was no easy venture. Whalers would set off from the main ship in teams aboard smaller boats, from which they would try to harpoon a whale and stab it to death with a lance. At least the crew aboard the Essexwere on the main ship when the sperm whale attacked them. Owen Chase, the first mate on the Essex, first saw the whale. At 85 feet long...
Pollard’s crew of 20 spread across three boats. And now, they faced a terrible choice. The captain suggested they sail to the closest land, which was the Marquesas Islands more than 1,000 miles away. But the crew refused, claiming the islands were filled with cannibals. “We feared,” Pollard later recalled, “that we should be devoured by cannibals i...
It wasn’t long before the three boats lost each other. One vanished entirely, then Pollard lost sight of Chase’s boat. Nine weeks had passed on the open sea and one of the four men left alive on Pollard’s ship suggested drawing lots and eating the loser. The short straw went to Owen Coffin– Pollard’s 18-year-old cousin. “My lad, my lad!” Pollard cr...
Back in Nantucket, Captain Pollard’s family rejected him – they couldn’t forgive their kinsman for eating his own cousin. He didn’t find any comfort out at sea either, as he was considered a “Jonah,” or an unlucky captain. So in his 30s, Pollard retired to Nantucket, where he reportedly locked himself in a room and fasted on the anniversary of the ...
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a book by American writer Nathaniel Philbrick about the loss of the whaler Essex in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. The book was published by Viking Press on May 8, 2000, and won the 2000 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
So to reconstruct the Essex, the most reliable source of information is period paintings. 1n designing the model, paintings of the ship Spermo of Nantucket, by John Fisher, were used as the primary reference. These depict a whaleship of the early 1820s and may be regarded as fairly typical.
