Dimensions
129 x 197 x 13mm
A first-hand account of one of history's most extraordinary maritime disasters. In 1819, The Whaleship "Essex" set sail from Nantucket for the South Pacific to hunt and kill sperm whales among the largest and most powerful creatures in the ocean. The journey was to end in one of the most dramatic maritime disasters of all time - and one which became the inspiration for the climax of Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick'.
On the morning of 20 November 1820, more than a thousand miles from the nearest land, the "Essex" was sunk, rammed by an enraged whale. Twenty sailors managed to scramble into three frail boats and took to the open sea.
Ninety crippling days of starvation followed. First Mate Owen Chase survived to publish his journal of these extraordinary events, but only by eating the flesh of his former shipmates . . .
