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- On November 20, 1820, the Essex was struck by a whale in the middle of the Pacific and sank almost immediately, stranding her crew in small boats thousands of miles from land.
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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.
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 .
Nov 2, 2020 · If they all died, at least someone would know what happened to the crew of the Essex. Pollard called his men back to the rowboats, but three men abandoned refused to leave the island, preferring their chances on land.
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.
By November of 1820, after months of a prosperous voyage and a thousand miles from the nearest land, whaleboats from the Essex had harpooned whales that dragged them out toward the horizon in...
Dec 8, 2021 · Only two days out of Nantucket, a storm caused considerable damage to the Essex, and decimated two of the whaleboats—20-foot open boats that were crewed by six men when actively pursuing a whale. Captain Pollard elected to continue around Cape Horn despite the damage, even as unsettled sailors questioned whether the storm had been an ill portent.
On November 20, 1820, the Essex was struck by a whale in the middle of the Pacific and sank almost immediately, stranding her crew in small boats thousands of miles from land. FOR THE WHALING MEN OF NANTUCKET , the year 1819 looked to be an especially promising one.
