ESSEX 1799 - OCCRE

Tobias

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The Essex was an American whaling sailing ship that was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820. Her demise is the most famous incident of its kind and served Herman Melville as the historical template for his novel Moby Dick.
Length: 27 m
Started: 1799
Weight: 238 tons
Width: 7.32 m²
Draft: 3.96 m²
Shipyard: Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA

When the real "Moby Dick" sank the Essex
After two months at sea, the Essex whaler's crew spotted a pack of whales and ended up in one of the most terrible shipping disasters of the 19th century. With "Moby Dick" a literary monument was later set up for her.
From Jürgen Bräunlein
On the morning of February 23, 1821, the whaler's crew, Dauphin, made a harrowing discovery on the way on the South Pacific Ocean: a small boat that rocked like a nutshell in the open sea concealed two emaciated figures.
"We found them sucking out the bones of their dead comrades whom they reluctantly parted with," the captain recalled. The dramatic rescue operation in the Pacific was the culmination of one of the most terrible shipping disasters of the 19th century: the sinking of the whaler Essex. Only eight crew members survived, including the two cannibal sailors. Everything had started well.

A whale "as if mad with anger and thirst for revenge"
On August 12, 1819, the Essex - a 26-meter-long three-master - set sail from Nantucket with Captain George Pollard and 19 men on board. The island off the east coast of the USA was a whaling stronghold at the time. Precious oil, fuel and lubricants for precision mechanics were extracted from the layers of fat on the animals. The Essex was on the move for a good two months before reaching the Pacific after circumnavigating Cape Horn. Then, on November 20, 1820, 510 nautical miles west of the Galapagos Islands and almost 40 miles south of the equator, the goal was reached: at eight o'clock in the morning, blow fountains showed the presence of a pack of whales. Catch boats were quickly launched and harpoons were thrown at the whales. The sailors were euphoric. But then it happened. A sperm whale broke away from the pack and approached the Essex.
“Suddenly there was movement in the whale. His 20-foot-wide tail fin whipped the water powerfully and with a slight swaying back and forth he steered, slowly at first, then faster and faster with his clumsy, barrel-like head towards the port side and rammed our ship. "

The first officer, Owen Chase, one of the survivors, described a whale “as if out of its senses with anger and thirst for revenge” in a book. All the men on board were thrown to the ground. The whale dived under the ship, came back to the surface. “It was a giant sperm whale, by far the largest I have seen so far, a bull 85 feet long and weighing approximately 80 tons. I now saw him shooting at us twice as fast as he was out of his mind with anger and desire for revenge. "
The drama after the drama
After the second attack, the whale pushed the 238 ton sailor a few meters backwards with its fins and disappeared into the sea. The Essex was destroyed. The crew barely had time to prepare the boats for survival: with sails, compass, navigation manuals, rusks and drinking water. “A cry of horror escaped us as we turned around in the whale boats and scanned the sea for the ship with desperate looks. It was no longer there. "

The real drama was only now beginning: 20 men were floating across the Pacific in three small boats. Since they could only sail with the wind, they hoped to at least get to Chile. Weeks of great hardship followed: Heavy storms, burning sun and an orca attack had to be fended off. The boats drifted apart. Most tormented were hunger and thirst. Three men drowned, seven others died exhausted. When those who were left had to share a pound of rusks, they saw no other way out than to chop up their dead comrade and eat them.

Why had the bull rammed his head into the ship?
A good three months after the Essex sank, the eight survivors were returned to their home in Nantucket. There was relief there, but also horror. Why had the cop rammed his head into the ship? There was no convincing explanation for this. Usually the animals use their jaws and caudal fin for attack and defense. Perhaps, it is believed, the sperm whale believed the Essex to be a rival, as the hammer blows that can be heard during repairs on ships are similar to the acoustic signals that whales use to communicate with one another. Herman Melville later made the case a key scene in his novel "Moby Dick". There the white whale sinks the whaler Peqoud and pulls the captain down with it.
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