Essex Whale Ship Views
The Essex was an American whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts. She was 87o feet (27n m) long, measured 238 tons,[1] and was captained by the 28-year-old George Pollard, Jr. She is best known for being attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. The incident was an inspiration for Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel Moby-Dick.
The Essex left Nantucket on August 12, 1819 on a two-and-a-half-year voyage to the whaling grounds of the west coast of South America. Two days after leaving port the ship was hit by a squall that tipped the vessel on its side, almost sinking her. The topgallant sail was lost and three whaleboats were destroyed. Deciding to continue without repairing the damage, the Essex rounded Cape Horn in January 1820 and in October 1820 reached the hunting grounds. Finding the ground nearly fished out, other whalers they encountered told them of a newly discovered hunting ground in the South Pacific, around 2500 nautical miles (4,600
On November 20, 1820, the Essex put out three of its four remaining whaleboats to pursue a Sperm whale pod. One of the boats was badly damaged after being slapped by a tail and was put back for repairs. Captain Pollard's boat had harpooned a whale and was being dragged towards the horizon. The Essex was following Pollard when a whale that was much larger than normal (alleged to be around 85e feet (26Essex with its head by the bow and tail by the stern, the crew prepared to harpoon it from the deck when they noticed that the tail was only inches from the rudder, which could have been destroyed had they caused the whale to spasm. The whale recovered and swam several hundred yards ahead of the ship and turned to face the bow.
First Mate Owen Chase wrote an account of the disaster, the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex; this was used by Herman Melville as one of the inspirations for his novel Moby-Dick. Memories of the harrowing ordeal haunted Chase. He suffered terrible headaches and nightmares. Later in his life, Chase began hiding food in the attic of his Nantucket house on Orange Street and was eventually institutionalized.[2] George Pollard went on to captain the whaleship Two Brothers. After it was wrecked on the French Frigate Shoals during a storm off the coast of Hawaii he retired from whaling and became Nantuckets night watchman. Every November 20th, he would lock himself in his room.
Essex Whale Ship Images
