The wreck of the whaleship Essex : a first-hand account of one of history's most extraordinary maritime disasters

The morning of 20 November 1820 was a doomed one for the whaleship Essex. More than a thousand miles from land, in the South Pacific, the ship was sunk, rammed by an enraged sperm whale. Twenty sailors managed to collect some bread and water from the wreck before pulling away in three frail boats, but only eight survived what was to follow: three months of terror, despair and debilitating exhaustion at sea. Owen Chase was one of two survivors who endured the ninety crippling days of starvation in the open sea. When he returned to Nantucket and his journal of the Essex s treacherous voyage was published. But Chase only lived to tell the tale because he had eaten his ship-mates...