Narrative of the most extraordinary and distressing shipwreck of the whale-ship Essex, of Nantucket : which was attacked and finally destroyed by a large spermaceti-whale, in the Pacific Ocean : with an account of the unparalleled sufferings of the captain and crew during a space of ninety-three days at sea, in open boats, in the years 1819 & 1820 / by Owen Chase.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chase, Owen.

Series:

Sabin Americana : History of the Americas, 1500-1926.

Sabin Americana : History of the Americas, 1500-1926

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shipwrecks.

Whaling.

Essex (Whaleship).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (128 p. )

Other Title:

Narrative of the most extraordinary and distressing shipwreck of the whale-ship Essex, of Nantucket

Place of Publication:

New-York : W.B. Gilley, 1821 (J. Seymour)

Summary:

First hand account by the first mate of the Essex which was shipwrecked and sunk by a whale, this becoming the inspiration for Melville's Moby Dick. Describes the ramming and sinking of the ship by a furious sperm whale on Nov. 20, 1819 some 2,000 miles west of the Galapagos. The surviving twenty crew members struggled to exist in three open boats, but only eight lived through the ordeal. Six men who died of natural causes were eaten by their shipmates and one other crew member was shot and eaten. The voyage of the two small boats, rescued off South America, was twice as long as that of Bligh after the Bounty Mutiny. Australian connections include the ship Surry picking up three men on Henderson/Elizabeth Island and their trip to Sydney stopping at Pitcairn Island; eventual accounts by the survivors and Surry crew; Thomas Raine, Surry captain, prominence in the Australian whaling industry.

Notes:

Errata: p. [12].

Reproduction of original from The American Antiquarian Society.

Sabin no. 12189.

OCLC:

11