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Essex (whaleship) Essex. (whaleship) 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 ...
Mar 15, 2024 · 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).
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. Nantucket and the mainland Massachusetts ...
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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 ...
Dec 8, 2021 · The Essex’s arrival at her intended hunting ground didn’t assuage the crew’s unease. Disagreements arose between Pollard and first mate Chase when the Essex didn’t see a whale for days. On November 16th, 1820, the first whale was spotted, but it surfaced directly beneath Chase’s whaleboat, damaging it.
- Carolyn Cox
The doomed bear no marks of distinction. When the Essex sailed for the southern seas, it was just a typical Nantucket whaler with a typical whaling crew. The ship was a tubby, 238-ton three-master, provisioned for a two-and-a-half year cruise, which meant quite literally that it could sail for two-and-a-half years without putting into port.
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. They had limited food and water, and could only hope that ...
