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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).
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.
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The adventure, which is one of the world’s great triumphs of survival, has been recorded in an account of stunning vividness, First Mate Owen Chase’s Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex, of Nantuchet.
Nov 2, 2020 · Published November 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.
HISTORY. The True-Life Horror That Inspired ‘Moby-Dick’. The whaler Essex was indeed sunk by a whale—and that’s only the beginning. Gilbert King. March 1, 2013. An illustration of Moby...
Sep 12, 2023 · All of a sudden, the whale began speeding toward the Essex, ramming the left, or port, side of the bow. Sperm whales have a large, bulbous head, and the specimen was estimated to have weighed approximately 80 tons. It swam under the boat, paused, then returned and struck the ship again before disappearing.
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...
