Superb
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It's not often that you find a work of historical non-fiction that's as compelling as this.
While the history of the Nantucket whaling industry that starts the book may at times be a little dry, it does give some very useful background to what's to come. The account of the voyage leading up to the ship being sunk is excellent and would stand alone as a description of life abourd a whaleship of the period. What follows the sinking is a horrendous yet fascinating study of the suffering endured by the crew as they tried to navigate the vastness of the Pacific Ocean in open boats.
The language is at times a bit quirky and the way some of the supporting detail is woven in is occasionally a little jarring, but as a whole it's a book that is hard to fault, and is very difficult to put down: and what an incredible tale!
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Just the best
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By far one of the best books I have ever read and truely found it difficult to put down.
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Sea Epic
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I never thought there was a recorded account of an actual sinking of a ship by a whale...how wrong I was! This is the true story of the sinking of the whale ship Essex by an 80 ton sperm whale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1820. This is `thee' actual story that prompted Herman Melville to write his famous Moby Dick novel.
Having been rammed by an angry whale the Essex sank within ten minutes and its twenty one man crew took to the sea with scant provisions in three whaling boats. What follows is a four thousands mile plus sea odyssey of incredible suffering and privation. Despite some serious errors of judgement where closer landfall could have been reached such as Easter Island, Pitcairn or Tahiti...the survivors show remarkable seamanship in reaching Chile after spending a desperate three months adrift.
This is not a tale along the lines of Shackletons epic South however where all live to tell the tale of their ordeal. Only two of the three boats reach safety and only eight of the twenty one crewmen survive the journey, the remainder die a terrible death mainly from lack of food, water or from the elements. When I say `mainly', some of the occupants die by `lot' selection by their crewmates and are simply killed....you can guess what comes after that...yes you guessed it messmate cannibalism!
This is a well written explanatory book that as well as highlighting the individual characters involved also gives a good descriptive narrative of the whaling techniques and equipment of the period. The description of the boat journeys however is the coup de main as the suffering and the despair of the crew leaps out from the pages....a great read!
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The real events behind stories aren't always dull
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The sinking of the whale-ship Essex is the real life event that inspired Melville's fantastic narrative "Moby-Dick". In his book Philbrick shows that the real life happenings are almost as thrilling as the book Melville made of them. Philbrick takes great care in setting the scene: who was who and what they did on the ship. He explains whaling in some detail. I was for example surprised to find out that five people can sail a big ship like a whaler, if needs be. Unlike "Moby-Dick" the book concentrates less on the whaling adventures on the Essex, but more on everything that happened after the Essex was 'stove by a whale'. That is a tale of the tortured survival of a few crew members in an open boat with little to no food except for their own flesh. Written in a very matter of fact style, but with sympathy for his protagonists, this is a very good read that is highly recommended to all people who enjoyed "Moby-Dick" or are interested in whaling.
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Excellent Book
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An excellent, compelling story well told with just a few irritations. For example, Philbrick talks up the heroism of this tale by denigrating comparison with the stupendous navigational feats of Bligh and Shackleton. The writer is clearly telling us, 'I'm writing about THE greatest feat' which I think both debatable and a little unworthy. However, criticisms that Philbrick doesn't explain why the New England whaling industry, led by Nantucket, didn't relocate wholesale to California are ignorant (leaving aside the fact that California was separated from civilisation at that time), with the major markets for oil consumption in Europe, the oil would have to have rounded the Horn sooner or later so why relocate an entire industry for no practical gain?
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