Product Description

This is the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship ESSEX, the inspiration for Melville's great classic, MOBY DICK. In 1820, the ESSEX set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was 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 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats. During ninety days at sea under horrendous conditions, they clung to life and, one by one, succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear. When eight survivors were retrieved off the coast of Chile, they had sailed almost 4,500 nautical miles across the Pacific.

"A gripping chronicle of an epic voyage of hardship and survival that deserves to be as well known now as it once was." (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2603 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-08
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Amazon.com
The appeal of Dava Sobel's Longitude was, in part, that it illuminated a little-known piece of history through a series of captivating incidents and engaging personalities. Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is certainly cast from the same mold, examining the 19th-century Pacific whaling industry through the arc of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a boisterous sperm whale. The story that inspired Herman Melville's classic Moby-Dick has a lot going for it--derring-do, cannibalism, rescue--and Philbrick proves an amiable and well-informed narrator, providing both context and detail. We learn about the importance and mechanics of blubber production--a vital source of oil--and we get the nuts and bolts of harpooning and life aboard whalers. We are spared neither the nitty-gritty of open boats nor the sucking of human bones dry.

By sticking to the tried and tested Longitude formula, Philbrick has missed a slight trick or two. The epicenter of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, necessitating a huge journey around the southernmost tip of South America. We never learn why no one ever tried to create an alternative whaling capital somewhere nearer. Similarly, Philbrick tells us that the story of the Essex was well known to Americans for decades, but he never explores how such legends fade from our consciousness. Philbrick would no doubt reply that such questions were beyond his remit, and you can't exactly accuse him of skimping on his research. By any standard, 50 pages of footnotes impress, though he wears his learning lightly. He doesn't get bogged down in turgid detail, and his narrative rattles along at a nice pace. When the storyline is as good as this, you can't really ask for more. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk

From Publishers Weekly
In 1821, a whaling ship came upon a small boat off the coast of Chile containing two deranged men surrounded by human bones that they alternately chewed and clutched to their shriveled bodies. The two were survivors of one of the most well-known marine disasters of the 19th century: the sinking of a 240-ton Nantucket whaleship by an 80-ton sperm whale. A maritime historian, Philbrick recounts the hellish wreck of the Essex (which inspired Melville's Moby-Dick) and its sailors' struggle to make their way to South America, 2,000 miles away. Of the 20 men aboard the two boats, only eight would remain alive through the ravages of thirst, hunger and desperation that beset the voyage. With a gracefulness of language that rarely falters, Philbrick spins a ghastly, irresistible tale that draws upon archival material (including a cabin boy's journal discovered in 1960). Philbrick shows how the Quaker establishment of Nantucket ran a hugely profitable whaling industry in the 18th and 19th centuries and provides a detailed account of shipboard life. A champion sailboat racer himself, Philbrick has a particular affinity for his subject. His fastidious, extensive notes and bibliography will please historians, but it's his measured prose that superbly re-creates a cornerstone of the early American frontier ethos. 16 page photo insert not seen by PW. 15-city author tour; foreign rights sold to nine countries. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-In 1819, the Essex, a Nantucket whaleship carrying a crew of 20, began what all thought would be a normal, two-year voyage. Instead, after a year and a half of near-disasters, the ship was rammed by a sperm whale and sank in the Pacific. All hands got off in three whaleboats and were at sea for three unbearable months of short rations and little fresh water, leading to the death by starvation of some and the killing of others to provide food. One boat disappeared and the two remaining eventually became separated. When rescued off the coast of Chile, only five men were still alive, including the captain and first mate, as well as three rescued later from an island. Philbrick brings the era to life, giving readers a rounded picture of the whaling industry and its society. Relying mainly on two survivors' detailed accounts, one of which has just recently been found, he fleshes out the tale in an exciting manner that sweeps readers along. He includes modern medical knowledge of the physical and mental effects of starvation on humans. The book concludes with tales of other shipwrecks, a description of how the survivors lived the rest of their lives, and an introduction to the recent work of the Nantucket Whaling Museum. The contrast between today's touristy island paradise and yesterday's hard life will not be lost on teens.
Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

I was cheering for the whales
A very good story, but as the whalers were slaughtering every whale in sight and dragging the giant Galapagos turtles into their mess halls for dinner, I was cheering for the whales.

Excellent and Enthralling Book from a most Perspicacious Author
This harrowing, hair-raising adventure story and testament to American ingenuity and resourcefulness is a thrill to read. Philbrick recounts the disaster of the Whaleship Essex largely relying on a careful selection of accounts from the memoirs of First Mate Owen Chase and Boatsteerer Thomas Nickerson that are peppered with interesting and informative annotations from a wealth of other sources.

Clearly the author has an advantage in writing about such an exciting and well documented story, but Philbrick sets himself apart in that he lacks the pretension and glibness of many contemporary historians. For example, nautical terms are used throughout, but not in way that is mired in the nitty-gritty (although the notes provide additional depth) and a clearly labeled illustration is quite enabling for the "coof" (off-islander) or layman reader. Furthermore, the numerous asides do not disrupt the story, but enhance it due to the thoughtfulness and subtly of the author.

This is an excellent and enthralling book from a most perspicacious author. Like the piece of twine weaved together and preserved by Essex survivor Benjamin Lawrence to remind Lawrence of his experience, Philbrick creates quite a yarn that will ensure the survival of the story of the Whaleship Essex for generations to come.

in the heart of the sea
this is one of the finest books i've ever read. the story is fabulous and the author's delivery is perfect. however, it is VERY graphic. the content can be extremely disturbing if you are not interested in the worst events any human can experience. it is told from the perspective of the survivors.