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Essex was an American whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. On November 20, 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., the ship was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. About 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) from the coast of South America, the 20-man crew ...
Model of the Essex whaling ship. Essex, American whaling ship that was rammed by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820, and later sank. Although all 20 crewmen initially survived, only 8 were rescued following an arduous journey that devolved into cannibalism. The sinking inspired the climactic scene in Herman Melville ’s Moby Dick (1851).
Nov 2, 2020 · Updated February 27, 2024. After the whaleship "Essex" was sunk by a vengeful sperm whale, its crew was left on the high seas for 90 days — causing them to resort to cannibalism. Camden Public Library The Essex, the ship Moby-Dick is based on, was sunk by a vengeful whale. In 1820, a whale rammed into an American whale-hunting ship in the ...
Thomas Nickerson, The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale, 2000, Penguin Classics. Owen Chase, Narrative of the Whale-Ship Essex of Nantucket , 2006, A RIA Press Edition.
Dec 8, 2021 · The Essex set sail in 1819, hoping for a successful whaling expedition. Instead, the ship was sunk by a whale attack, leading to a brutal struggle for survival.
- Carolyn Cox
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The Essex’s great adventure began fifteen months out of its home port. The ship, which had left Nantucket August 12, 1819, and had enjoyed rather typical success in its hunt for whales, arrived by November 20, 1820, at a point a fewminutes south ofthe equator, 119 degrees wast longitude. At eight o’clock that morning whales were sighted and ...
Nov 20, 2008 · 1820: The whaling ship Essex is rammed and sunk by a sperm whale 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America. The ordeal of the crew inspires Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick. The Essex ...
