#The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex

[semper-legens]

157. The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex, by Owen Chase

Owned: No, library Page count: 141 My summary: In the 1820s, the whaleship Essex was wrecked by a whale. Her crew would partake on a harrowing journey over thousands of miles, their supplies dwindling and their options narrowing. This is the account of the survivors, and what they experienced in their days on the ocean. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Long-time readers of this blog will know that I have a special interest in real-life cases of survival cannibalism. It's fascinating, okay? I'm always interested in hearing about extreme situations, and what surviving such things will do to a person's psychology, as well as the different ways that different groups of people react to stress and survival situations. My particular interest is in the Uruguayan plane crash in the 1970s, but as an avowed Boat Person I am also interested in the many terrible things that happened on sailing ships, and the Essex is one of the more famous of that sort.

She was a whaler, sent from Nantucket to hunt whales in the Pacific, when a sperm whale struck her (a very rare occurrence) and sunk her. The men aboard were forced to try and get to safety on the ship's whaleboats. Now, the majority of the crew were white, and vetoed the idea of sailing for the closest islands, the Marquesas, because they thought the native people would eat them. Oh, the irony. So instead of sailing with the wind for 1200 miles, they would need to sail south for 1000 miles, then east for another 3000 miles to catch the westerly winds. Good sense was not aboard any of the whaleboats.

They made it to Henderson Island fine, and three men decided to stay behind on the island while the rest carried on. (The three were later rescued.) Seventeen men in three whaleboats set out to Easter Island. The whaleboats became separated - one was never seen again, though a similar boat washed up nearby with three skeletons, they have not been conclusively identified as the missing sailors. On the other two boats, they ran out of food. One set of survivors started to eat the dead. The other drew lots for who would be sacrificed; the unfortunately named Owen Coffin drew the short stray, an 18 year old cabin boy and the captain's cousin. He was killed and eaten. In total, only five of the seventeen men in the boats survived, including the captain, cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, and first mate Owen Chase, the narrators of this particular tale.

Chase's narrative is the longest and takes up the bulk of this book. It's suspiciously complimentary of himself - since his is the only detailed account, it's important to take his claims with a pinch of salt. Were the black sailors really stealing from the white sailors? Was he heroically responsible for basically every good thing that happened? Did he and his boat-mates only eat the bodies of the already-dead? It's an engaging, if harrowing, narrative nonetheless, tempered a little by the 19th century style of the writing. Much is made of the fact that Herman Mieville read this account and was inspired to write Moby Dick, which is kind of annoying for me, because I only wanted to know the details of the Essex, not some other book I'm not reading, but anyway. Regardless of that, it was an interesting read!

Next up, something completely different - two women in medieval England.

[laureavandil]

The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

(Whale approaching Essex, sketched by Thomas Nickerson) 

On this day, November 20, 1820 202 years ago.

   Nantucket whaleship Essex is attacked by an unusually large bull Sperm Whale, about 2,300 miles west of South America. The whale, estimated to be 85 feet long (almost the length of Essex herself) struck the ship on the port side, just forward of the forechains.  Then, diving and resurfacing, the whale struck Essex a second time at the port bow beneath the anchor, hard enough to stave in the bow and drive the ship backwards.  After that the whale disappeared, never to be seen again.

 With Essex going down by the bows, 20 officers and men rigged three of Essex’s whaleboats with sails and filled the boats with what provisions they could.  Their captain, George Pollard, Jr. wanted to make for the Pitcairn islands, but was overruled by his crew, as there were rumors of cannibals on those islands. They would spend the next 90 days in the open boats, drifting around the South Pacific.  A month after Essex went down, the three boats landed on Henderson Island, where the men consumer nearly all food sources on the island. They departed Henderson a few days later, leaving three men behind, William Wright, Seth Weeks, and Boatsteerer Thomas Chapple.

 Those in the boats ran out of food by early January, and in a desperate effort to survive, the starving consumed their deceased shipmates.  On Captain Pollard’s boat, the men drew lots to determine who would give his life to feed the others. The lot fell on Pollard’s young cousin Owen Coffin. Pollard objected to this and tried to have them men draw lots a second time, but Coffin insisted “No, I like my lot as well as any other”.  

One boat, containing Boatsteerer Obed Hendricks, Steward William Bond, and sailors Lawson Thomas, Charles Shorter, Isaiah Sheppard, and Joseph West, disappeared and was never seen again.  It is presumed they died at sea. On February 18, 1822, British merchantman Indian, commanded by William Crozier (1), came upon the boat containing First Mate Owen Chase, Boatsteerer Benjamin Lawrence and Thomas Nickerson, Cabin Boy. The three men were transferred to USS Constellation about a week later.  On February 23, 1821, 93 days after the sinking of Essex, the boat containing Captain Pollard and sailor Charles Ramsdell was found by fellow Nantucket Whaler Dauphin, under command of Captain Zimri Coffin (2). Pollard and Ramsdell were soon transferred to another Nantucket whaler, Two Brothers. Australian trading ship Surry was instructed to stop at Henderson Island for the three men left behind. They were found on April 9 and taken to Port Jackson, Australia.

 George Pollard would become the captain of Two Brothers (3), but she wrecked on French Frigate Shoals off the coast of modern-day Hawaii. Fortunately, Two Brothers was in company with Nantucket whaler Martha, so Pollard did not have to repeat the same ordeal twice. After this, Pollard was declared a Jonah, and no one would dare sail with him.  He was forced to retire from whaling and became Nantucket’s night watchman. George Pollard and his wife Mary had no children, but as night watchman enforcing the island’s curfew, Pollard became well-acquainted with several generations of Nantucket’s young people. Every year on November 20, Pollard would lock himself in his room and fast in memory f the men of Essex. He died on January 7, 1870, aged 78.  

Owen Chase, first mate of Essex would have a more interesting life than Pollard, but perhaps not as happy. He remained at sea for 19 years, only returning home for short periods every two or three years, fathering a child each time. Chase’s first two wives died while he was at sea. He divorced his third wife after she gave birth to a child 16 months after he had last seen her (obviously the child was not his), but then raised that child as his own.  He married a fourth time and retired from whaling soon after. Chase suffered terrible headaches and nightmares throughout his life after his ordeal.  Later in life, he began hoarding food in the attic of his house and was eventually committed to an institution.  Owen Chased died in Nantucket on March 7, 1869, aged 73.

Herman Melville of course used both Chase and Nickerson’s accounts of the tragedy of Essex for his novel Moby Dick, but he also knew George Pollard and was very impressed by the man. Melville wrote of Pollard “To the islanders he was a nobody. To me, the most impressive man, tho' wholly unassuming, even humble – that I ever encountered."  Melville also wrote a poem, Clarel, in which there is a character based on Captain Pollard:

Never he smiled;

Call him, and he would come; not sour

In spirit, but meek and reconciled;

Patient he was, he none withstood;

Oft on some secret thing would brood.

 REMEMBER THE ESSEX

 George Pollard, Jr. - Captain

Owen Chase – First Mate

Matthew Joy – Second Mate

Thomas Chapple, Obed Hendricks, Benjamin Lawrence – Boatsteerers

William Bond – Steward

Owen Coffin, Isaac Cole, Henry DeWitt, Richard Peterson, Charles Ramsdell, Barzillai Ray, Samuel Reed, Isaiah Sheppard, Charles Shorter, Lawson Thomas, Seth Weeks, Joseph West, William Wright – Sailors

Thomas Nickerson – Cabin Boy

 (Thomas Nickerson in the 1870s)

(Owen Chase later in life)

(I do wish we had a portrait of George Pollard.  All things considered, I doubt he would have submitted to it.) 

Footnotes:

1. Though probably not a close relation to Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier, RN, FRS, FRAS, Crozier is an uncommon enough name that I suspect the captain of Indian was a distant relation to the polar explorer. Incidentally, in 1812 that Crozier would chase another Essex around the same part of the South Pacific.  Midshipman F.R.M. Crozier was on the ship HMS Briton in pursuit of the United States frigate USS Essex.  Briton and Essex never would meet, but Briton did visit Pitcairn and met survivors of the Bounty mutiny still living on the island.  Had the men of whaleship Essex followed Pollard’s suggestion and made for Tahiti and the Pitcairns, they would have been assisted by Bounty mutineers. Not much is known of Indian, but she probably started as an American ship. She was entered into British records as a prize in 1815.  In Valparaiso after picking up Chase, Lawrence and Nickerson, Indian got caught up in the local Chilen independence movement and was detained by Lord Cochrane’s squadron. The Prize Court of Valparaiso condemned her and her cargo. The two ships she was condemned with, Edward Ellice and Lord Suffield, were adjudicated, but there is no record of Indian’s adjudication, and she disappears from records.

 2. Considering his name was Coffin and he was a Nantucket whaler, Captain Zimri Coffin was likely a relation of Essex casualty Owen Coffin, and therefore also probably a distant relation of Captain Pollard.

 3. In August of 1822, Two Brothers met with US Schooner USS Waterwitch. Aboard Waterwitch was midshipman Charles Wilkes, who had already read Owen Chase’s published narrative of the Essex disaster and was very eager to meet Captain Pollard. Wilkes was very impressed with Pollard, saying he was “…cheerful and very modest…” and “a hero, who did not even consider that he had overcome obstacles which would have crushed 99 out of a hundred.” Wilkes would go on to become the chief rival of Sir James Clark Ross in exploration of the Antarctic about 15 years later.

[goddamnshinyrock]

Buzzfeed's latest "Ruining History" episode was on the crash that inspired Moby Dick, and my first thought was "Relevant to Mica's interests." Then I watched it and thought no, nope, too general and not enough specific details.

you are… not the only person to tell me this

[tendervulture]

Ocean Ma’am, Take Me By The Hand. Have a Livyatan reference! I felt like my first design of them didn’t accurately show off her proportions, so I’ve been working on this one on and off since March. Liv has multiple harpoon heads buried in their hide, and is responsible for at least three whaleship Essex-type incidents among the Dark Armies and one amongst the Skavengers. Even though Liv is a Guardian, she’s also a ship-wrecking sea monster.

Fun Fact: Livyatan is the largest Guardian measured by length and weight. Only Terrador is taller than her!

[thosedaysthatwill]

Just finished reading The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex which is a firsthand account, by the first mate, of a whaleship that was sunk by a whale and how (some of) the crew survived in the lifeboats for 90 days in the open ocean. Really interesting to read it in his own words. In the Heart of the Sea (which is a fantastic book and everyone should read it) is an easier read and much more detailed, but this is from the dude that actually survived it’s own hand. It’s almost all “this is really crappy but we’re going to live, dammit!” and that’s inspiring. 

[spectralarchers]

top 3 or 5 books you've read in '18? or have wanted to read? 🤔

I was going to say that the only books I’ve read this year are for Uni, but that’s not true. I did manage to read a bit of 'regular’ literature that wasn’t fanfic!

Odinsbarn, by Siri Pettersen - I re-read that again, because I read the first one a while ago and I fell off the wagon, so I had to read it again so I could read the second one. 

Eske Willerslev, han gør det døde levende, by Eske Willerslev and Kristoffer Frøkjær-Jensen - a book about world renowned geneticist Eske Willerslev and his work on ancient human DNA sequencing

The Wreck of the Whaleship “Essex” by Owen Chase - the book that inspired the movie In The Heart of the Sea, and about the wreck that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. 

I didn’t get to read more than that, though! :D

Ask me my top 3 / 5 /10 of anything!

[n0hv6t]

Download In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex EBOOK -- Nathaniel Philbrick

EPUB & PDF Ebook In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex | EBOOK ONLINE DOWNLOAD

by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Download Link : DOWNLOAD In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Read More : READ In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Ebook PDF In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex | EBOOK ONLINE DOWNLOAD Hello Book lovers, If you want to download free Ebook, you are in the right place to download Ebook. Ebook In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex EBOOK ONLINE DOWNLOAD in English is available for free here, Click on the download LINK below to download Ebook In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex 2020 PDF Download in English by Nathaniel Philbrick (Author).

Description

"With its huge, scarred head halfway out of the water and its tail beating the ocean into a white-water wake more than forty feet across, the whale approached the ship at twice its original speed - at least six knots. With a tremendous cracking and splintering of oak, it struck the ship just beneath the anchor secured at the cat-head on the port bow..." In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex - an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history.In 1820, the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the

[hyaenagallery]

The Essex part 8 Pollard's boat, now containing only Pollard and Ramsdell, was rescued when almost within sight of the South American coast by the Nantucket whaleship Dauphin, 93 days after Essex sank, on February 23. Pollard and Ramsdell by that time were so completely dissociative that they did not even notice the Dauphin alongside them, and became terrified when they saw their rescuers. On March 5, Dauphin encountered Two Brothers, which was sailing to Valparaíso, and transferred the two men to her. After a few days in Valparaíso, Chase, Lawrence, and Nickerson were transferred to the frigate USS Constellation and placed under the care of the ship's doctor, who oversaw their recovery. After officials were informed that three Essex survivors Wright, Weeks, and Chappel had been left behind on Ducie Island—actually Henderson Island—the authorities asked the merchant vessel Surry, which already intended to sail across the Pacific, to look for the men. The rescue succeeded. On March 17, Pollard and Ramsdell were reunited with Chase, Lawrence, and Nickerson. By the time the last of the eight survivors were rescued on April 5, 1821, the corpses of seven fellow sailors had been consumed. All eight went to sea again within months of their return to Nantucket. Pollard returned to sea in early 1822 to captain the whaleship Two Brothers. It was wrecked on the French Frigate Shoals during a storm off the coast of Hawaii on his first voyage, after which he joined a merchant vessel, which was wrecked off the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) shortly thereafter. By now Pollard was considered a "Jonah" (unlucky), and no ship owner would trust him to sail on a ship again, so he was forced to retire. He subsequently became Nantucket's night watchman. Every November 20, he would reportedly lock himself in his room and fast in memory of the men of Essex. He died in Nantucket on January 7, 1870, aged 78. #destroytheday https://www.instagram.com/p/B6vpbU0hH_r/?igshid=1xj5tazg1nye9

[hackoftheyear]

This page is really educational and also horrifying. The “see also” and various links have info on other ship wreck cannibalism instances including the legal details of the ones that got brought to court

How do I always end up reading about shipwrecks and maritime law and cannibalism (as one subject) on Wikipedia like once a week

[laureavandil]

With the discovery of several shipwrecks over the past few days, this is a good time to bring to mind the first discovery of a Nantucket Whaleship.

Two Brothers was discovered off French Frigate Shoals near Hawaii in 2008, 185 years after she went down.  When she was first discovered the marine archaeologists had no idea what ship she was, so she was known as the “Shark Island Whaler”.  Her Identity as Two Brothers was announced February 11, 2011, 188 years to the day of her sinking.

Two Brothers is famous among whaleships because her story, and ultimate fate, is tied to that of the most famous Nantucket whaler, the Essex.  Two Brothers was not only Captain George Pollard’s last whaleship, she was also the ship that brought him home to Nantucket after the sinking of the Essex.  On February 23, 1821 The Dauphin, another Nantucket whaler under the command of Captain Zimri Coffin, picked up a battered whaleboat containing two emaciated men, George Pollard, captain of the Essex and Charles Ramsdell. Also in the boat were the bones of their shipmates which they had consumed in a desperate struggle to survive. They had been in the boat more than three months, Since Essex went down November 20, 1820. On March 5, 1821, Dauphin met Two Brothers which was returning to Nantucket via Valparaiso.  Pollard and Ramsdell were transferred to Two brothers, which reached Nantucket August 5 of that year.

Pollard was given command of the next and final voyage of Two Brothers when it departed Nantucket in the company of Whaleship Martha on November 13, 1821 (barely three months after his return). 

Two Brothers and Martha were struck by a storm off the coast of Hawaii the night of February 11, 1823.  The ships were separated and Two Brothers ran aground near French Frigate Shoals and sank.  Pollard was reluctant to abandon her, likely not wanting to live through that hell all over again, but his crew begged him to leave. All hands were saved by Martha the next day.

An anchor and a trypot from the wreck site of Two Brothers. 

[goddamnshinyrock]

someone: passing mention of cannibalism, as a joke

me: HEY SO HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE WRECK OF THE WHALESHIP ESSEX??

[recentanimenews]

Drifting Dragons, Vols. 1-2

The nineteenth century whaler was a tough character. He’d board a ship in Nantucket or New Bedford, sail around the tip of South America and then into the Pacific hunting grounds in quest of sperm whales. Every aspect of his job was dangerous and unpleasant; as author Eric Jay Dolin notes in Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, crewmen endured “backbreaking work, tempestuous seas, floggings, pirates, putrid food, and unimaginable cold” during their long stints at sea. At the end of a two- or three-year tour, a whaler might still be in debt from all the equipment he’d purchased at the outset of his journey, especially if the ship’s yield was low. Yet the gruesome work he performed was vital to the Victorian economy: whales’ bodies yielded the fat, bones, and oils that illuminated homes, corseted ladies, and gave shine and staying power to paint (Dolin 12).

The characters in Taku Kuwabara’s Drifting Dragons are engaged in a similar enterprise: they trawl the skies in a flying ship looking for dragons. The opening pages of the story make the connection between whaling and “draking” explicit, as we join the crew of the Quin Zaza on an aerial Nantucket sleigh ride. We glimpse a dragon through a parting in the clouds: first its back, then its tail, and finally the entire animal, as enormous and majestic as a blue whale. As the wounded dragon begins to tire, a crew member rappels down the tow line to plunge a harpoon into the animal’s back, delivering the final blow:

  It’s a boffo introduction; not only does it suggest how dangerous draking is, but it also what makes it so thrilling. Kuwabata’s thin, graceful lines and sparing use of tone capture the speed of the wind, the texture of the dragon’s skin, and the delicate feathering on the dragon’s ears, as well as the vast emptiness of the sky. These details allow us to imagine for ourselves what it would be like to stand astride the dragon’s back, gazing at a mountain peak that’s poking above the cloudline, or looking back to the ship and realizing just how vulnerable the harpooner really is.

As exciting as the dragon hunting sequences are, Drifting Dragons is more an exercise in careful world-building than action-oriented storytelling. Kuwabara devotes page after page to the crew’s routines, capturing the heat, smell, and physical labor of stripping meat from bones and rendering fat. He also maps the physical environment of the Quin Zaza in precise detail, from the main deck and crow’s nest to the sleeping quarters and the hold, where most of the butchering, smoking, and boiling takes place. Last but not least, Kuwabara shows us how each member of the crew contributes to the functioning of the ship, and explains what first drew them to the skies.

Though the crew is drawn in broader strokes than the ship itself, the main characters are distinctive enough to register as people with feelings, desires, motivations, and frustrations. Kuwabara is generous with his supporting characters — Yoshi, the can-do cook, Giraud, a young hothead, and Vannabel, a skillful hunter with a mysterious past and a four-chambered liver — giving each a turn in the spotlight. Kuwabara lavishes the most attention, however, on the Mutt-and-Jeff duo of Mika and Takita: he’s a bold risk-taker with little regard for his own safety, while she’s a cautious newbie, eager to learn the ropes and prove her worth.

In trying to make Mika a more fully rounded character, however, Kuwabara chose to depict him as a swaggering gourmet, a kind of Anthony Bourdain of the air. Mika is always dreaming up new strategies for preparing dragon meat, regaling his shipmates with lengthy monologues about a new technique he tried — say, grilling meat on grapewood skewers — or goading Yoshi into making a deep-fried cutlet. This culinary concept carries over to the end of each chapter, which concludes with a detailed recipe for Dragon Tail Meat Sandwich, Dragonet alla Diavola, Pressed Dragon Liver Confit… you get the idea. These interludes aren’t very funny or appetizing; if anything, they feel more like a naked attempt to jump on the weird-cooking-manga bandwagon than an organic part of the story Kuwabara’s trying to tell.

What Drifting Dragons does best is create a sense of time and place. Kurabawa clearly knows the history of whaling, and has found a clever way to integrate those details into his fantasy world. At the same time, however, the vividness of the world he’s created has its own integrity; one could read Drifting Dragons in blissful ignorance of Moby Dick or The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex and still be swept up in the activity of the Quin Zaza’s crew and the thrill of flying alongside dragons in the clouds. Highly recommended.

WORKS CITED

Dolin, Eric Jay. Leviathan: The History of American Whaling. W.W. Norton & Co., 2007.

Kuwabata, Taku. Drifting Dragons, vols. 1-2. Translated by Adam Hirsch. Kodansha Advanced Media, LLC, 2018.

By: Katherine Dacey

[catsdogsgif]

In one of the most spellbinding accounts of men who go down to the sea in ships, the modern reader is given a seat in the whale boat of Owen Chase as he and his fellow crew and their Captain make way in three boats after the wreckage of the Whaleship Essex. The account of how the Essex was wrecked inspired the infamous book Moby Dick and countless movies, including the newest, In the Heart of the Sea. The perils of sea, storms, nefarious intent of evil men and fate combined to bring an end to a long whaling voyage – typically hard and grueling enough without suffering an attack by a furious and vengeful sperm whale.

[h0r0dit]

There is no knowing what a stretch of pain and misery the human mind is capable of contemplating, when it is wrought upon by the anxieties of preservation; nor what pangs and weaknesses the body is able to endure, until they are visited upon it; and when at last deliverance comes, when the dream of hope is realized, unspeakable gratitude takes possession of the soul, and tears of joy choke the utterance. We require to be taught in the school of some signal suffering, privation, and despair, the great lessons of constant dependence upon an almighty forbearance and mercy.

Owen Chase, Wreck of the Whaleship Essex

[the-final-sentence]

My unexpected appearance was welcomed with the most grateful obligations and acknowledgements to a beneficent Creator, who had guided me through darkness, trouble, and death, once more to the bosom of my country and friends.

Owen Chase, from The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex

[goddamnshinyrock]

I’m so glad you’re watching the Terror! I’ve always been into terrible adventure stories (Lawrence Titus Oates is a fav of mine, we share a first name) and the Terror looks like it brings all the elements of a classic great adventure gone wrong tale. Can’t wait to start watching myself! Hope you have a great day!

Hi! I hope you’ll have a chance to watch The Terror and that you’ll enjoy it as much as I have! It’s truly a self-contained work of art in a way that great films can be, but even the best TV shows only rarely achieve. 

As for whether it brings together all the elements of a classic adventure gone wrong story, I’m…. I’m not sure exactly how to phrase this so as to avoid sounding like I’m criticizing the show, because it’s definitely not a shortcoming, but… ‘classic adventure gone wrong’ is not, at its heart, what The Terror is. While that is the setting of the story, the actual narrative structure is very firmly rooted in the horror genre. I think the show is stronger for it- while they could have not based it on the novel, and just gone straight historical and have the antagonist be ‘the crushing weight of realization that they’ve made a terrible mistake and are going to die slowly and horribly and no help is coming,’ having there be an actual creature hunting the characters injects an immediacy and tension into the story. It doesn’t lose the grim and inescapable specter of scurvy, frostbite, and slow starvation, but it takes that historical reality and adds the classic horror trope ‘being prey’ to it. The creative team of the show strike a delicate balance between these two very emotionally distinct sources of conflict, and use the interpersonal conflict between the characters to connect them. It’s deftly handled (and very impressive) writing, but the overall effect is a story that has a very different emotional arc than, say, the story of Scott’s last expedition or the wreck of the whaleship Essex. 

TL;DR: The Terror uses the ‘expedition gone wrong’ as a springboard but has the narrative conventions of the horror, rather than adventure, genre. And I think the end result is great!