[Gutenberg 61931] • Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex, of Nantucket; / Which Was Attacked and Finally Destroyed by a Large Spermaceti-whale, in the Pacific Ocean; With an Account of the Unparalleled Sufferings of the Captain and Crew During a Space of Ninety-three Days at Sea, in Open Boats in the Years 1819 & 1820.

**Owen Chase's memoir of the sinking of the *Essex* by a whale, which inspired Herman Melville's epic *Moby-Dick* and the film *In The Heart of the Sea.** *

Owen Chase was the first mate on the ill-fated American whaling ship *Essex* , which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1820. The crew spent **months at sea in leaking boats** and endured the blazing sun, attacks by killer whales, and lack of food. The men were forced to **resort to cannibalism** before the final eight survivors were rescued.

Chase recorded the tale of the ship's sinking and the following events with **harrowing clarity** in the *Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex:*

"I turned around and saw him about one hundred rods [500 m or 550 yards] directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed of around 24 knots (44 km/h), and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent thrashing of his tail. His head about half out of the water, and in that way he came upon us, and again struck the ship."

Filled throughout with period and contemporary  **art** , **photographs** , **maps** , and **artifacts** , this is a beautifully illustrated edition of a classic American memoir, augmented with the writings of other participants, as well as the **perspectives of period and contemporary historians.**