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- After harpooning one whale, the small, open whaleboat was pulled by the giant animal in what was nicknamed a “Nantucket sleigh ride.” As her captain watched from on deck, the Essex herself—238 tons, 27 meters (87 feet)—was forcefully, purposefully rammed by an enormous sperm whale separated from the pod.
education.nationalgeographic.org › resource › tragedy-whaleship-essexTragedy of the Whaleship Essex - National Geographic Society
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On November 20, 1820, the American whaling ship Essex was rammed by a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) and sunk. The incident inspired Herman Melville’s famous novel Moby Dick . The Essex had left her home port on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States, more than a year earlier.
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.
In 1820, an angry sperm whale sank the whaleship Essex, leaving its desperate crew to drift for more than ninety days in three tiny boats. Nathaniel Philbrick reveal the chilling facts of...
The story of a sperm whale ramming and sinking the Essex on 20 November 1820, some two thousand nautical miles west of present-day Ecuador, and of the ensuing ordeals—with only eight of twenty men surviving to be rescued after trials lasting between eighty-nine and a hundred and thirty-nine days, and the trauma of having to resort to ...
In 1820 a massive sperm whale rammed a Nantucket whaling ship, sending it to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Stranded 1,500 miles from land, the surviving crew’s horrific quest for survival...
In November 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 · HOME. 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.
