Quotes
"At twenty years of age, the Essex was reaching the point when many vessels began to exhibit serious structural deterioration. (19)
-This shows that the boat was already in rough conditions when they went out to see which eventually led to the whale being able to break through the bottom of the ship.
Summary
"My lad, My lad!" Pollard cried out. If you don't like your lot, I'll shoot the first man that touches you." (176)
-This shows how the crew of the ship is essentially one big family. Captain Pollard was willing to take Coffin's spot for being executed in order to make sure he survived.
"Finally Pollard asked, "My God Mr. Chase, what is the matter?" (86)
-This was said after their ship was rammed by the whale. It shows how unbelievable it was that a whale sunk their ship. They said that their had been no recordings of any whale attacks on ships in any previous voyages.
The story starts out on the island of Nantucket as the 238-ton whaling ship, Essex, is preparing to take off on a voyage. The voyage started and the hunting for whales had begun. The trip was expected to take roughly 3 and a half years. After three months of no whale sightings, the crew finally managed to attach themselves onto and harpoon a 60 ton sperm whale. Over the course of the next year, they had received over 700 barrels of oil from the whales blubber. On November 20th, 1820, the ship was struck by a enraged sperm whale supposedly weighing 80 tons. The twenty person crew was stuck with limited supplies and only 3 small whaleboats. They decided to head for South America which was about 3,000 miles away. They made it to Henderson Island where they were able to find fresh water and sources of food. After using most of the resources on the island they decided to head out for Easter Island. On the way there, crew members slowly started to die off. The remaining crew members alive resorted to cannibalism as a source of food. One of the whale boats manned by Owen Chase was rescued on February 18th by the larger vessel, the Indian. Pollard's whale boat was rescued on February 23rd by another larger vessel, the Dauphin. The surviving eight crew members went back out to sea only a few months later.
"I never for one moment lost sight of the main chance, which I conceived we still had, of either getting to the coast, or of meeting some vesset al sea." (137)
-Even in the rough conditions that they were in, he never gave up his chance of survival. He was determined to be either rescued or make it to land safely.
Sentence Starters...
I realized how loyal the members aboard the Essex were to each other especially in their situation. They told their fellow crew members that they were allowed to eat their bodies if they were to die first in order to keep the others alive.
I think that it was a good choice for the survivors to go back out to sea on other whale trips a few months after being rescued. This would help to keep their mind off of what happened and would keep them from dwelling on the negative aspects of it.
Character List
Captain- George Pollard, Jr.
First Mate- Owen Chase
Second Mate- Matthew Joy
Cabin Boy- Thomas Nickerson
Boatsteerers- Benjamin Lawrence,
Obed Hendricks, and Thomas Chappel
Background on Author
- Was born on June 11th 1956, in Boston, Mass.
- Earned his bachelor's degree from Brown University and his master's degree from Duke University.
- He currently lives on Nantucket with his wife and two children.
- Philbrick was Brown’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor.
- This book won the National Book Award in 2000.