Essex rounded Cape Horn in January 1820 after a transit of five weeks, which was extremely slow. Chase and the remaining sailors frantically tried to add rigging to the only remaining whaleboat, while the steward William Bond ran below to gather the captain's sea chest and whatever navigational aids he could find. However, First Mate Owen Chase—possibly worried that the men, believing the knockdown was a bad omen, might desert—convinced him to continue. The two vessels were then separated the following day, and the boat carrying Hendricks and two others—none of whom had navigational equipment—was never seen again; a whaleboat with three skeletons was later found on Ducie Island, though it was never determined if they were from the Essex. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent thrashing of his tail. Chase was repairing the damaged whaleboat on board the Essex when the crew sighted an abnormally large sperm whale bull (reportedly around 85 feet (26 m) in length) acting strangely. Added by Elwin C. Nickerson -"Whaling Ship Essex- Thomas was a member of the ill-fated ship the Essex, at age 15. Occre Essex Whaling Ship With Sails 1:60 Scale Model Ship Kit. Nickerson wrote this account 56 years after the sinking, in 1876, and it was lost until 1960; the Nantucket Historical Association published it in 1984. [3] The crew of 21 was mainly white but there were a small group of free black men. On August 12, 1819, the Essex set sail on its fateful last journey, heading from Nantucket to the South Pacific Ocean. Lots were drawn again to determine who would be Coffin's executioner. First mate Owen Chase and cabin boy Thomas Nickerson later wrote accounts of the ordeal. After the animal became tired, the sailors would kill it with a lance and then tow it to the main vessel, where it was harvested for blubber and oil. On January 20–27, three men died on Hendricks’s boat and were eaten. Within three days they had exhausted the crabs and birds they had stockpiled from Henderson in preparation for the voyage, leaving only a small reserve of the bread previously salvaged from Essex. Essex was attacked approximately 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) west of South America. When they finally found a whale on November 16, it surfaced directly beneath Chase's boat, with the result that the boat was "dashed ... literally in pieces". After being told of the men on Ducie, the Australian ship Surry was dispatched to the island. By February 15, the three survivors of Chase's whaleboat had again run out of food. In September 1840, two months after the divorce was finalized, he married for the fourth and final time and retired from whaling. Price: £114.00 incl. Pollard allegedly offered to protect his cousin, but Coffin is said to have replied: "No, I like my lot as well as any other". Under this theory, the agitated animal believed that the boat was actually another male that had entered his territory. The sinking inspired the climactic scene in Herman Melville ’s Moby Dick (1851). CASED MODEL OF THE AMERICAN WHALING SHIP ESSEX By Robert Innis of South Dennis, Massachusetts. W I L L Y O U S U R V I V E ! Realizing they would need to continue sailing, the crew returned to their navigation charts and determined that while Chile was 3,000 miles (5,600 km) away, Easter Island was less than 1,000 miles (1,900 km). The cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, became a captain in the Merchant Service and late in his life wrote his own account of the sinking, titled The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats. One by one, the men began to die.[15]. The Essex sailed from Nantucket for the Pacific on the morning of August 12, 1819, one of 34 vessels to depart on whaling voyages from the island that year. While sailors fled whaling ships all the time,[7] the desertion was bad news for Captain Pollard because each of the ship's three whaleboats required a crew of six. In 1820, a whale rammed into an American whale-hunting ship in the South Pacific. After just one week, they had largely exhausted the island's food resources. [23] He died in Nantucket on March 7, 1869, aged 73. The player will step into the shoes of a whaling ship captain, and the gameplay will feature various elements related to whale hunting, including the majestic and awe-inspiring cachalots. Occre Essex Whaling Ship - Basic Without Sails 1:60 Scale Model Ship … He subsequently became Nantucket's night watchman. Tension mounted among the officers of Essex, especially between Pollard and Chase. That day whales were spotted, and three whaleboats were launched. On January 10, 1821, Joy became the first sailor to die, and he was buried at sea; his boat then fell under the command of Obed Hendricks. Later that day, the two boats separated; Hendricks' boat was never seen again. This time WITH SOUND to the very end! Inside Pollard's sea chest, which Bond's quick thinking had managed to save, were two sets of navigational equipment and two copies of maritime charts. However, it resumed its attack “with tenfold fury and vengeance,” striking the bow and causing catastrophic damage before disappearing. The three-masted ship was made from white oak, especially known for its strength, and it measured 87 feet (26.5 metres). Despite the dangers of the trade, the Essex became known as a lucky vessel. After finding the area's population of whales exhausted, the crew encountered other whalers who told them of a vast newly discovered hunting ground, known as the "offshore ground", located between 5 and 10 degrees south latitude and between 105 and 125 degrees west longitude, about 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km) to the south and west. [15] Memories of the harrowing ordeal on the Essex haunted Chase, and he suffered terrible headaches and nightmares. It was the height of the dry season, and the fire quickly burned out of control, surrounding the hunters and forcing them to run through the flames to escape. 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. On Henderson Island, Essex's crew found a small freshwater spring below the tideline and the starving men gorged themselves on endemic birds, crabs, eggs, and peppergrass. Examining the charts, the officers deduced that the closest known islands, the Marquesas, were more than 1,200 mi (1,900 km) to the west, and Captain Pollard intended to make for them, but the crew, led by Chase, voiced their fears that the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to sail east instead, for South America. 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. Every November 20, he would reportedly lock himself in his room and fast in memory of the men of Essex. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The crew needed to fix a serious leak and initially anchored off Hood Island (now known as Española Island) on October 8, 1820. The whale, stunned from the initial blow he dealt the ship, paused for a moment, swam away, an… Five days later another crew member died, and he was also cannibalized. After returning to Nantucket, Chase wrote Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex (1821; republished under various titles). The boats were rigged with makeshift masts and sails taken from the Essex, and boards were added to heighten the gunwales and prevent large waves from spilling over the sides. It lay motionless on the surface facing the ship and then began to swim towards the vessel, picking up speed by shallow diving. In 1820, however, it seemed this luck had run out as the ship was attacked and sunk by a Sperm Whale – only eight members of the crew were rescued. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Sailors considered it a lucky ship, even though it was now old and rather small. Chase’s work inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). Although shorthanded, the ship sailed on, stopping at Hood Island, Galapagos, where they fixed a leak on the Essex and caught nearly 200 tortoises. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. On November 20, 1820, the Essex was attacked by a sperm whale and sank 2,000 miles off South America. Thomas died on January 20, and the others decided they had no choice but to keep the body for food. On January 4, 1821, they estimated that they had drifted too far south of Easter Island to reach it and decided to make for Más a Tierra island instead, 1,818 miles (2,926 km) to the east and 419 miles (674 km) west of South America. After losing a timber, the crew of one boat had to lean to one side to raise the other side out of the water until another boat was able to draw close, allowing a sailor to nail a piece of wood over the hole. You’ll go on a great adventure in the Atlantic’s open waters as you hunt down whales in your whaling ship. Second mate Matthew Joy, whose health had been poor even before the Essex left Nantucket, was dying; as his condition steadily worsened, Joy asked if he could rest on Pollard's boat until his death. [20] Several days after the rescue, the empty whaleboat was lost in a storm while under tow behind the Indian. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. The player will step into the shoes of a whaling ship captain, and the gameplay will feature various elements related to whale hunting, including the majestic and awe-inspiring cachalots. Quantity: Add Glue Pack £6.74 Add Rigging Tool Set £21.26. Since departing Nantucket, the crew had been searching for sperm whales. To restock their food supplies for the long journey, Essex sailed for Charles Island (later renamed Floreana Island) in the Galápagos Islands. Updates? However, although they found freshwater, there was little food. They ate his liver and kidneys but struggled to eat the sinewy flesh.[17]. CHARLES W. MORGAN, a 113' 11" whaling bark, was built in 1841 by Jethro & Zachariah Hillman of Fairhaven, Massachusetts and named for one of the major share owners of the ship, Captain Charles Wahl Morgan.The CHARLES W. MORGAN retired in 1921 after 80 years of whaling. It has been suggested that the fire contributed to the near-extinction[9] of the Floreana Island tortoise and the Floreana mockingbird, which no longer inhabit the island.[10]. Facing near death, the men on Pollard’s boat decided to draw lots to see who would be killed and eaten. A young man named Owen Coffin, Captain Pollard's 17-year-old first cousin, whom he had sworn to protect, drew the black spot. Built in 1799, the 238-ton Essex had made good financial returns on six previous voyages. They believed the tortoises were capable of living for a year without eating or drinking water (though in fact the tortoises slowly starved). Height to top of mast 30". In 1819, at the age of 29, Pollard was one of the youngest men ever to command a whaling ship; Chase was 23, and the youngest member of the crew was the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, who was 14. His first two wives died while he was at sea. This was an immense distance from known shores for the whalers, and the crew had heard rumors that cannibals populated the many islands of the South Pacific. [16] As with Joy, he was sewn into his clothes and buried at sea, as was the custom. The whale crushed the bow, driving the vessel backwards, and then finally disengaged its head from the shattered timbers and swam off, never to be seen again, leaving Essex quickly going down by the bow. The sinking of the Essex was the first known incident of a whale ‘turning on’ a whaling ship, but it has not been the only one. Food and water were rationed from the beginning, but most of the food had been soaked in seawater. The rescue succeeded. For the unlucky crew of The Essex, nature was about to hit back at them when a huge whale attacked the ship causing so much damage that the crew had to take to three rowboats. Two days after her departure from Nantucket, Essex was hit by a sudden squall in the Gulf Stream. The crew was divided into three groups of six, each of which manned one of the three usable whaleboats whenever whales were sighted; the remaining three men stayed aboard to manage the Essex. Susan C. Austin Veeder, whaling journal entry March 5, 1850. Upon finding no one there, the Surry headed to Henderson Island, and on April 9, 1821, it rescued the remaining survivors. The next day, the island was still burning as the ship sailed for the offshore grounds. Realizing that the ship was doomed, Pollard believed they should head for either the Marquesas or Society islands, more than 1,200 miles (2,200 km) or 2,000 miles (3,700 km) away, respectively. After passing under the ship, the animal resurfaced and appeared stunned. [18] Although it was suspected to be Obed Hendricks' missing boat, and the remains those of Hendricks, Bond, and West, the remains have never been positively identified.[19]. Essex was an American whaler from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. The other whaleboats fared worse. Fearing a certain whipping, Chapple only later admitted that he had set the fire. By February 1, the food on Pollard's boat was again exhausted and the survivors' situation became dire. [14], The remaining Essex crewmen, now numbering 17 in three boats, resumed the journey on December 27 with the intention of reaching Easter Island. She was very successful in disrupting British whaling in the Pacific, before being captured in 1814, and re-purposed as the HMS Essex under the Royal Navy. The tragedy that inspired the universal novel: "Moby Dick". There were 21 men on board—including the first-time captain, George Pollard, Jr.—and the trip was expected to last up to three years. In the early 19th century, whaling was an extremely difficult profession. VAT Approx: €107.35 / US$130.15. Peterson, the oldest crew member, lost the will to live and died on January 18. Chase remained at sea for 19 years, only returning home for short periods every two or three years, each time fathering a child. He was shot on February 6. In August of 1819, the whaleship Essex and its crew of 21 set sail from Nantucket on their way to whaling grounds in the South Pacific. A whaling ship, it launched in 1799 and was a successful ship known to be a ‘lucky’ vessel. [15] He died in Nantucket on January 7, 1870, aged 78.[22]. With the Essex damaged and missing two whaleboats, Pollard initially opted to return to Nantucket. What you don’t know is that the ship is heading for a disastrous encounter with a giant sperm whale. Though the sea is traditionally understood as romantic landscape, whaling was not a … Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Other books and later films were also based on the doomed whaleship. Essex, American whaling ship that was rammed by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820, and later sank. It was estimated to be 85 feet (26 metres) long; a typical male sperm whale was no bigger than 65 feet (20 metres). In January 1820 the Essex rounded Cape Horn, southern Chile, and entered the South Pacific. A whaleboat was later found washed up on Ducie Island with the skeletons of three people inside. ", The cause of the whale's aggression is not known. Occre Essex Whaling Ship. The Whaling Ship Essex You sign up as cabin boy aboard the Essex for a 2-3 year voyage to the whaling grounds of the Pacific. You join three of your young friends who sign on as sailors. The sailors captured them alive and allowed some of them to roam the ship at will; the rest they kept in the hold. The two remaining men were rescued by the Dauphin, an American whaling ship, on February 23. [11] On the leeward side of Essex, Chase's whaleboat harpooned a whale, but its tail struck the boat and opened up a seam, forcing the crew to cut the harpoon line and return to Essex for repairs. The men suffered severe dehydration, starvation, and exposure on the open ocean, and the survivors eventually resorted to eating the bodies of the crewmen who had died. He was in a short time, however, enabled to address the inquiry to me, "My God, Mr. Chase, what is the matter?" In June 1821, 13 of the 21 crew were dead, and the eight survivors have entered maritime history as part of one of the most remarkable sea-faring stories ever told. The truth is sometimes NEATER than fiction! The story of the Essex ship is one we all know. It is believed that Melville based Moby Dick on several real-life events, one of which was the sinking of the whaling ship Essex by a sperm whale. Later attempting to explain the normally timid creature’s unusual behaviour, some have speculated that the hammering on the whaleboat sounded similar to the clicks made by whales to communicate. While repairs were being made, a huge male sperm whale was spotted close to the ship. It was first published in 1821. The whaling ship Essex left Nantucket, Massachusetts in 1819 on a two-and-a-half-year voyage in the whaling grounds of the South Pacific to hunt the lucrative but aggressive sperm whale. Pollard's boat carried Lawson Thomas, Charles Shorter, Isaiah Sheppard, Samuel Reed, Owen Coffin, Barzillai Ray, and Charles Ramsdell. In about late May, Pollard decided to head farther from the coast, into a distant area that had recently proved highly profitable for whalers. After a full day of sailing, the fire was still visible on the horizon. The journey soon turned perilous as the provisions dwindled, the men began to suffer from dehydration, and the boats encountered bad weather and were in constant need of repair; in late November Pollard’s boat was damaged by a marine animal, possibly a killer whale. In addition, Thomas Nickerson, a cabin boy on the Essex, later wrote his account of the sinking and rescue, but the notebook was lost and not published until 1984. Their spirits were temporarily lifted when Essex began the long spring and summer hunt in the warm waters of the South Pacific Ocean, traveling north along the western coast of South America up to the Spanish-ruled Royal Audience of Quito (present-day Ecuador). Four months later he had completed an account of the disaster, the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex; Herman Melville used it as one of the inspirations for his novel Moby-Dick (1851). Even though the island was unknown to them, the desperate men set a course for it, and on December 27 they left Henderson, though three sailors decided to remain behind. Benjamin Lawrence died in Nantucket on March 28, 1879, aged 80. On December 20, exactly one month after the whale attack, and within hours of the crew beginning to die of thirst, the boats landed on uninhabited Henderson Island, a small uplifted coral atoll within the modern-day British territory of the Pitcairn Islands. They then sailed for Charles Island, where on October 22 they took another 60 tortoises. ESSEX Whaling Ship In November 1820, the sinking of the Essex whaling ship and the survival of part of its crew moved the US. It was the first time in American history that a whaling ship was assaulted by its prey in what seemed like a calculated attack. In 1799 the Essex was launched, and it was believed to have been used as a merchant ship before being converted into a whaling vessel. The following day, Chase's whaleboat, which also carried Richard Peterson, Isaac Cole, Benjamin Lawrence, and Thomas Nickerson, became separated from the others during a squall. On 26 December, they concluded they would starve if they remained much longer. In addition, she had an additional whaleboat below decks.[6]. This page was last edited on 7 February 2021, at 11:44. Omissions? In late October 1820 they reached Charles Island and collected more tortoises before one of the crew members started a fire that soon spread throughout the small island, causing the men to flee. And as recently as this summer and autumn there have been reports of orcas ramming sailing boats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. On August 12, 1819, the whale ship Essex left port in Nantucket, Massachusetts with plans to hunt down whales for their valuable oil, but the ship was doomed from the very start. The two groups slept apart. On February 11, Ray also died. I turned around and saw him about one hundred rods [500 m or 550 yards] directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed of around 24 knots (44 km/h), and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. Although all 20 crewmen initially survived, only 8 were rescued following an arduous journey that devolved into cannibalism. In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. Thousands of miles from the coast of South America with little food and water, the 20-man crew was forced to make for land in the ship's surviving whaleboats. Essex: The Whale Hunter is a single-player focused whaling simulator that will allow you to embark on a great adventure in the open waters of the Atlantic. Had they landed on Pitcairn Island itself, 120 miles (190 km) to the southwest, they might have received help; the descendants of the survivors of HMS Bounty, who had famously mutinied in 1789, still lived there. As most of the crew prepared to set sail in the whaleboats once again, three men – William Wright, Seth Weeks, and Thomas Chapple, the only white members of the crew who were not natives of Nantucket – opted to stay behind on Henderson. On February 8 Isaac Cole died, but with food running out the survivors kept his body, and after a discussion, the men resorted to cannibalism. The men drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed for the survival of the remainder. Two miles away off the windward side, Pollard's and Joy's boats each harpooned a whale and were dragged towards the horizon away from the Essex in what whalers called a "Nantucket sleighride". She was knocked on her beam-ends and nearly sank. [19] 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. In 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., she was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. He divorced his third wife when he found she had given birth 16 months after he had last seen her, although he subsequently brought up the child as his own. The tragedy attracted international attention, and inspired Herman Melville to write his famous 1851 novel Moby-Dick. Although Pollard offered to take his place, the teenager refused. After spending two days salvaging what supplies they could from the waterlogged wreck, the 20 sailors prepared to set out in the three small whaleboats, aware that they had wholly inadequate supplies of food and fresh water for a journey to land. Pollard ultimately relented, and on November 22 the men left the barely afloat Essex. Pollard’s cousin Owen Coffin pulled the shortest straw. Such a beast was to be the undoing of the whaleship Essex, which departed from Nantucket on August 12, 1819. Amy Tikkanen is the general corrections manager, handling a wide range of topics that include Hollywood, politics, books, and anything related to the. On February 18 – 89 days after Essex sank – off the coast of Chile the British vessel Indian spotted and rescued Chase, Lawrence, and Nickerson. Oct 31, 2016 Ian Harvey. While hunting on Charles Island, helmsman Thomas Chapple decided to set a fire as a prank. Essex: The Whale Hunter is a single-player focused whaling simulator that will allow you to embark on a great adventure in the open waters of the Atlantic. When that proved insufficient, members of the crew drew lots to determine whom they would sacrifice so that the others could live. All those rescued at sea were taken to Valparaíso, Chile, where they were reunited. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He stopped about a boat's length off, but had no power to utter a single syllable; he was so completely overpowered with the spectacle before him. Essex departed from Nantucket on August 12, 1819, on what was expected to be a roughly two-and-a-half-year voyage to the bountiful whaling grounds off the west coast of South America. “In Essex: The Whale Hunter, players will embark on a unique journey through a world that no longer exists. His young friend, Charles Ramsdell, drew the black spot. A year earlier the ship had sailed from Nantucket, starting a new whaling campaign that should last two and a half years through the South Pacific. The sailors considered the tortoises delicious and extremely nutritious, and planned to butcher them at sea as needed.[8]. These were split between Pollard's and Chase's boats; Joy's boat was left without any means of navigating except to keep within sight of the other boats. Each whaleboat was led by one of the three officers – Pollard, Chase, and Joy – each of whom then chose his five other crew members. It was based in Nantucket, considered the whaling capital of the United States. A massive whale that Pollard’s second in command, Owen Chase, estimated at 85 meters in length, charged the Essex. The sinking inspired the climactic scene in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). She lost her topgallant sail and two whaleboats were destroyed, with an additional whaleboat damaged. On January 28 Pollard lost his first man, who was cannibalized. He died in February 1883, aged 77. Some three weeks later, another sailor in that boat died, and the decision was made to cannibalize his body. They ran out of food on January 21. Shorter died on January 23, Sheppard on January 27, and Reed on January 28. Captain George Pollard Jr. and first mate Owen Chase had served together on the ship's previous trip, which had been highly successful and led to their promotions. Nantucket Historical Association, Additional Collections, MS220 Log 347. To use this Web Book place your cursor over the images to see the comments as your whaling adventure unfolds. Eight sailors were rescued five months later on April 5, 1821. The whale rammed Essex, rocking her from side to side, and then dived under her, surfacing close on the ship's starboard side. 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. She was acquired by Mystic Seaport in 1941 and relaunched after extensive restoration by Mystic … The Essex whaling ship: the inspiration for Moby Dick, involved killing & eating their shipmates. The crew numbered 21 men in total. I answered, "We have been stove by a whale. All eight went to sea again within months of their return to Nantucket. Almost a year after Essex sank, Lloyd's List reported that Surry had rescued the three men and taken them to Port Jackson, Australia. Joy became the first crew member to die on January 10, and Nantucketer Obed Hendricks assumed the leadership of the boat. The Essex resumed its journey, and on November 20, 1820, it was more than 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) from the Galapagos. Hendricks' boat, carrying crew members William Bond and Joseph West, exhausted its food supplies on January 14, and Pollard generously offered to share his own boat's remaining provisions. The next day a storm caused Chase’s boat to separate from the others, and one of its crew members passed away on January 20. Not only were they the closest land, the crew would be sailing with the wind. Owen Chase, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex (New York: W. B. Gilley, 1821), 19. As its head lay alongside the bow and the tail by the stern, it was motionless and appeared to be stunned. Ramsdell shot Coffin; Ramsdell, Pollard, and Barzillai Ray consumed the body. 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. Shortly thereafter, the men killed their first quarry. Part No: OC12006. After being maneuvered within feet of the giant mammal, a harpoon connected to a rope was thrown, tethering the small vessel to the whale. When Essex finally reached the promised fishing grounds thousands of miles west of the coast of South America, the crew was unable to find any whales for days. Instead, they argued for Peru or Chile, even though much of the course—which measured more than 4,000 miles (7,400 km)—would be against both the wind and strong currents. Many years later, Nickerson returned to Charles Island and found a blackened wasteland; he observed "neither trees, shrubbery, nor grass have since appeared". But that told only half the story. Herman Melville later speculated that all would have survived had they followed Captain Pollard's recommendation and sailed to Tahiti. [4], Essex had recently been totally refitted, but at only 88 feet (27 m) in length, and measuring about 239 tons burthen,[2][5] she was small for a whaleship.