Home Browse Discussions Features About Us Resources

Advanced Search

	Synopsis

	Table of Contents

PENGUIN CLASSICS LOSS OF THE SHIP ESSEX SUNK BY A WHALE

Owen Chase - Author
Thomas Nickerson - Author
Thomas Philbrick - Introduction by
Nathaniel Philbrick - Editor/introduction


	$18.50

PENGUIN CLASSICS LOSS OF THE SHIP ESSEX SUNK BY A WHALE

In 1820, the Nantucket whaleship Essex was sailing in the South Pacific when it was rammed by an angry sperm whale. The Essex sank leaving 20 crew members floating in three small boats for 90 days. Owen Chase's 'Narrative of the Wreck of Whaleship Essex' has long been the primary account of the ship's doomed voyage. But in 1980, a new account was discovered, by Thomas Nickerson, the 15-year old cabin boy who was steering the ship when the whale attacked. This authoritative edition brings together the harrowing tales of the survivors and all other contemporary accounts. The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale - Thomas Nickerson, Owen Chase, and Others

Edited and Introduced by Thomas Philbrick and Nathaniel Philbrick

Introduction
Suggestions for Further Reading

THE ESSEX NARRATIVES

First Reports
1. The Paddack Letter
2. The Macy Letter

The Mate's Story
1. Chase's Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex
2. Herman Melville's Annotation of Chase's Narrative

The Boy's Story
1. Nickerson's "Desultory Sketches"
2. Nickerson's Letter to Lewis

The Captain's Story
1. Excerpt from Ridgely's Letterbook
2. Excerpt from Wilke's Autobiography
3. Excerpt from Tyreman and Bennet's Journal

The Boatsteerer's Story
1. An Account of the Loss of the Essex
2. Excerpt from the Journal of the Surry

Extracts: Memories and Apocrypha

Notes

		Send this page to a friend