Search - In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Totally riveting- disturbing, but so worth reading.. one of my all time recommendations; especially if you are from New England

A most exciting story which inspired Moby Dick - all of it is true. There are pictures of the actual people who were involved as well as interesting information on Nantucket, whaling and the era in which it transpired. ONe of my favorite books of all time!

In August 1819, the Essex set out from Nantucket on another whaling adventure. This journey, however, was far from normal. In November 1820, the ship was rammed by a sperm whale and sunk. This book tells the story of the 20 man-crew and their quest to travel overseas (more than 2000 miles) to reach the safety of South America. Of the 20 men, only eight survived to tell the tale of three months adrift in the South Pacific. The Essex tragedy was Melville's inspiration for Moby Dick.

The book was somewhat dull to begin with and I nearly gave up a few times, but once the whale struck, it seemed like the pace picked up and you had to keep reading to learn the fate of these men. Some of the descriptions in the book are quite graphic (carving up the whale, the physical condition of the men), yet I kept reading. One has to be amazed at how these men survived this incredible journey in three small whaleboats.

I am grateful for the maps in the book (pages 46-47 for the voyage of the Essex and page179 for the voyages of the whaleboats) but found their location in the book annoying. I referred to them a great deal so I could get my bearings as to where the boats were located -- they should have been in the front of the book for easy access.

Overall, an incredible tale of adventure and survival.

I've had Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower" on my shelf for months, but could never really get into it even though I am extremely interested in the events of that era - not a Mayflower descendent, but my father's family has roots that go back to the 1600's in Massachusetts. However, this book was completely engrossing, fascinating, captivating, and best of all, a true story.

Fascinating book about a true story.

Great story, especially for Moby Dick fans. This is the true story upon which the Melville novel was based. A whale really DID attack a whaling ship - in fact, I read that towards the end of the whaling days, there were many accounts of whales doing this - maybe these large intelligent animals had finally figured out who the enemy was and decided they weren't gonna take it no more??
Either way, great read, all the good stuff about seamen and long voyages, the history of whaling and Nantucket Island, shipwrecks and revenge, cannabalism and heroism....you won't be able to put it down!