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 | | In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick ISBN-10: 9780670891573 ISBN-10: 0-670-89157-6 ISBN-13: 9780670891573 ISBN-13: 978-0-670-89157-3 Hardcover 2000-05-08 Viking Adult Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex--an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history. In 1820, the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly 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, the survivors clung to life as one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear. In the Heart of the Sea tells perhaps the greatest sea story ever. Philbrick interweaves his account of this extraordinary ordeal of ordinary men with a wealth of whale lore and with a brilliantly detailed portrait of the lost, unique community of Nantucket whalers. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, the book delivers the ultimate portrait of man against nature, drawing on a remarkable range of archival and modern sources, including a long-lost account by the ship's cabin boy. At once a literary companion and a page-turner that speaks to the same issues of class, race, and man's relationship to nature that permeate the works of Melville, In the Heart of the Sea will endure as a vital work of American history. "Nathaniel Philbrick has taken one of the most horrifying stories of maritime history and turned it into a classic. This is historical writing at its best--and at the same time, one of the most chilling books I have ever read." --Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm | ||
Amazon.com Review 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 | ||
Reviews | ||
Just Amazing This is one of those books that, as you read it you say to yourself "why didn't I know about this before, and why don't people talk about it more?" One of my favorite books ever. | ||
Great white whale sinks ship . . . . who'd believe that story? Real-life whaling disaster that Melville borrowed as the basis for Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Modern Library Classics) moves crisply in Philbrick's matter-of-fact style that emphasizes the horror of the story. The Essex left Nantucket in 1819 on a typically 2 to 3-year whaling tour, then sank when it was rammed by a giant sperm whale--twice! This unprecedented attack left the 20 whalers stunned and stranded 1,500 miles from land in the middle of the Pacific. Philbrick relies on the accounts of several of the survives, but also does a good job of bringing just enough knowledge at just the right times from his research on specific aspects of survival, sailing, and cannibalism, for example, as it applies to the narrative. One measure of the worth of a book is the avenues to additional reading it open ups, and I have added Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Modern Library Classics) (read it and rated it a classic!) and Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" (tried, couldn't get through it) to my reading list. | ||
horrifying Well written and horrifying account of the Essex. I am from Boston and I was not aware of the story. Found the book in a store on Nantucket a over the summer. I am glad I remembered to order it when I came home from vaca. If your looking for an adventure story, without a Disney ending,,,,then this book is for you. | ||
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. | ||