Just eat it, eat it, open up your mouth and feed it
This day in history: November 20, 1820 - The sinking of the Essex.
The Essex, a Nantucket ship hunting sperm whales in the South Pacific, sighted a school of whales on November 20, 1820 and three boats set out in pursuit. One boat was damaged during the hunt and returned to the Essex; during repairs, the men noticed a large sperm whale, 85 feet long, swimming near the ship. The whale, perhaps agitated by the sounds of repair hammers, suddenly rammed the ship twice, breaching the hull below the water line and then vanishing from sight.
The men aboard the Essex realized the ship was doomed, so they quickly collected some supplies and boarded the hastily repaired whaleboat before the Essex capsized. The other two boats returned from the hunt, and the dismayed men (twenty in all) plotted a course of action. The masts were sawn from the ship and the hull righted, then searched for more supplies. Fear of cannibals led them to reject the idea of trying for the nearer islands, so they instead planned to sail south in the whaleboats and then east, hoping to land in Peru or Chile. They estimated the trip at 56 days, and the small amount of salvaged food and water was strictly rationed.
They left the wreck of the Essex on November 22 and made fair progress, and morale was good even though everyone was tired and hungry. On December 20 the men spotted a small island and landed, gorging themselves on fish and birds, vegetation and fresh water. By Christmas they realized they had almost depleted the island’s resources and would have to depart again. Three men elected to stay on the island, and the others shoved off on December 26, promising to send help when they could.
The already inadequate rations of food and water were halved, and the dispirited men were beginning to lose hope. On January 10, 1821, one of the men died and was thrown overboard after prayers. The next day a storm separated one of the boats from the group, and the men were too exhausted to search for each other. The lone boat continued south as best as it was able, and another crewman succumbed to hardship on January 18; he too was buried at sea. When a third died on February 8, the three remaining men assessed their nearly spent stores of food and chose to keep the body. They ate from the corpse over the next ten days before being rescued by a British vessel.
The other two whaleboats had stayed together after the storm, but supplies had dwindled and were exhausted by mid-January. On January 20 one man died of thirst and exposure, and his hungry mates cannibalized the body; three more men perished over the next week and were similarly eaten.
The boats were separated on January 28; one, with three crewmen, was never seen again. The last boat, occupied by Captain George Pollard and three others, again ran out of food on February 1. The starving men decided one would have to be slain to feed the rest and drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed. Pollard’s young cousin drew the shortest straw, and was shot, butchered, and devoured. Another man died on February 11 and was also eaten. When the boat was rescued by another whaling ship on February 23, only Captain Pollard and one other sailor were left, gnawing on bones for survival.
The men were reunited in Valparaiso, Chile and told authorities of the three crewmen stranded on the island. Though nearly dead of starvation and thirst, they were rescued on April 5. Of the twenty men who left the Essex on November 20, only eight survived - three were lost and presumed dead, two had been buried at sea, and seven had been devoured by their desperate comrades.
Many of the survivors wrote accounts of the tragedy, the most famous being First Mate Owen Chase’s Narrative of the Most Extra-Ordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex. In later years, Chase’s son met a young whaler named Herman Melville and gave him a copy of his father’s manuscript, thus inspiring Moby Dick.
Sources: BBC, Maritime Quest, Wiki
The Essex, a Nantucket ship hunting sperm whales in the South Pacific, sighted a school of whales on November 20, 1820 and three boats set out in pursuit. One boat was damaged during the hunt and returned to the Essex; during repairs, the men noticed a large sperm whale, 85 feet long, swimming near the ship. The whale, perhaps agitated by the sounds of repair hammers, suddenly rammed the ship twice, breaching the hull below the water line and then vanishing from sight.
The men aboard the Essex realized the ship was doomed, so they quickly collected some supplies and boarded the hastily repaired whaleboat before the Essex capsized. The other two boats returned from the hunt, and the dismayed men (twenty in all) plotted a course of action. The masts were sawn from the ship and the hull righted, then searched for more supplies. Fear of cannibals led them to reject the idea of trying for the nearer islands, so they instead planned to sail south in the whaleboats and then east, hoping to land in Peru or Chile. They estimated the trip at 56 days, and the small amount of salvaged food and water was strictly rationed.
They left the wreck of the Essex on November 22 and made fair progress, and morale was good even though everyone was tired and hungry. On December 20 the men spotted a small island and landed, gorging themselves on fish and birds, vegetation and fresh water. By Christmas they realized they had almost depleted the island’s resources and would have to depart again. Three men elected to stay on the island, and the others shoved off on December 26, promising to send help when they could.
The already inadequate rations of food and water were halved, and the dispirited men were beginning to lose hope. On January 10, 1821, one of the men died and was thrown overboard after prayers. The next day a storm separated one of the boats from the group, and the men were too exhausted to search for each other. The lone boat continued south as best as it was able, and another crewman succumbed to hardship on January 18; he too was buried at sea. When a third died on February 8, the three remaining men assessed their nearly spent stores of food and chose to keep the body. They ate from the corpse over the next ten days before being rescued by a British vessel.
The other two whaleboats had stayed together after the storm, but supplies had dwindled and were exhausted by mid-January. On January 20 one man died of thirst and exposure, and his hungry mates cannibalized the body; three more men perished over the next week and were similarly eaten.
The boats were separated on January 28; one, with three crewmen, was never seen again. The last boat, occupied by Captain George Pollard and three others, again ran out of food on February 1. The starving men decided one would have to be slain to feed the rest and drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed. Pollard’s young cousin drew the shortest straw, and was shot, butchered, and devoured. Another man died on February 11 and was also eaten. When the boat was rescued by another whaling ship on February 23, only Captain Pollard and one other sailor were left, gnawing on bones for survival.
The men were reunited in Valparaiso, Chile and told authorities of the three crewmen stranded on the island. Though nearly dead of starvation and thirst, they were rescued on April 5. Of the twenty men who left the Essex on November 20, only eight survived - three were lost and presumed dead, two had been buried at sea, and seven had been devoured by their desperate comrades.
Many of the survivors wrote accounts of the tragedy, the most famous being First Mate Owen Chase’s Narrative of the Most Extra-Ordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex. In later years, Chase’s son met a young whaler named Herman Melville and gave him a copy of his father’s manuscript, thus inspiring Moby Dick.
Sources: BBC, Maritime Quest, Wiki