The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex

This is the true story which inspired Melville’s classic Moby Dick. On the morning of November 20th, 1820, the whaleship ‘Essex’ was struck by an enraged sperm whale. The boat started to sink, and the twenty-one crew members who made it into the lifeboats found themselves stranded 2,000 miles from land. Owen Chase, first mate of the ‘Essex’, tells first-hand the harrowing account of the sailors’ attempts to survive against all odds.