CONNECTICUT LIBRARIES
March 2001, Vol. 44, No. 3
Don't call me Ishmael. Despite growing up on Long Island's south shore and working for over twenty years in a Connecticut shoreline community, I lack sea legs. The first time I was ever on a boat, we ran out of fuel with very little terra firma in sight. Fortunately, a fisherman took pity on two teenage guys hopelessly paddling toward shore.Still, I enjoy a good sea story. In the Heart of the Sea is a good yarn and much more. Nathaniel Philbrick teaches us the history and technology of whaling, explains the sociology of Nantucket, and gives us a peek at the economics of young America. He dispassionately instructs us in the many factors that affect human survival under harsh conditions.
The sinking of the whaleship Essex by a sperm whale in 1820 inspired Moby Dick. While Herman Melville's classic climaxes with the destruction of the Piquod, Philbrick's tale is just getting under way when a sperm whale rams and sinks the Essex. Unlike Captain Ahab's doomed crew, the sailors of the Essex survive the destruction of their ship. With few provisions, little fresh water, and wary of islands thought to be inhabited by cannibals, they undertake a desperate voyage in whaleboats that they have fitted with sail and built up at the sides to withstand the pounding of the sea.
Following the 1789 mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty, Fletcher Christian set Captain William Bligh and crew members loyal to the controversial captain adrift in the ship's launch. With the seamanship of a veteran sailor, the leadership skills of a disciplined naval officer, and the determination of a proud man bent on retribution, Bligh completed an impossible voyage of 4,000 miles. Thirty-one years later, the less-experienced crew of the Essex out-sailed the legendary Bligh by some 500 miles!
We learn from Philbrick that whale crews were the least respected of sailors. Merchant ships drew the veterans. Whaler captains filled their bunks with novices so inept that spectators flocked to the harbor to see if departing ships made it safely out of port. Exceptions were the "mates" (or officers) and the "boatsteerers" (or harpooners) who were officers-in-training.
In the early 1800's, Nantucket was the whaling capital of the world. Her businessmen raised capital for outfitting ships and brought in huge returns on those investments, making their home island an economic powerhouse. Each ship was both a vessel for reaching whales and an efficient factory for processing raw material into product. Their Quaker faith made Nantucketers tolerant of other races. Black sailors were accepted onto the Essex. However, arrogant Nantucketers were prejudiced against anyone who was not part of their island community.
This prejudice was evident in the way officers selected the men they would depend upon in the dangerous business of tracking, harpooning, and dispatching their giant prey at close range. The Essex captain and first mate filled their whaleboats with Nantucketers, while the second mate was left without a single islander. Later, when it came to choosing crews for their desperate voyage, the same system was used. Mutual trust and social support among Nantucketers helped several to survive their ordeal while outsiders perished.
Cannibalism also helped, and Philbrick does not shrink from this subject. We learn that sailors accepted unwritten rules in this regard and that the men of the Essex were not denounced for eating the flesh of dead shipmates. Of course, the nutritional value of a human body dead from starvation is limited. As we wonder why the men did not eat fish, Philbrick explains why the sea provided virtually no sustenance.
It seems that the few men who survived did so despite poor leadership. Captain George Pollard was probably the wrong leader for this challenge. A good man, he may have been too accepting of input from his officers, too willing to entertain alternatives when the crew needed decisiveness. Pollard, given another chance at whaling after the tragedy, ended his career with the loss of a second ship.
First mate Owen Chase may have been better suited to command. However, Chase was responsible for several poor decisions and took actions that might have precipitated the whale attack. It is difficult to fairly judge Pollard and Chase because, for years, historians relied primarily on Chase's Narrative of the Wreck of the Whaleship Essex.
Philbrick uses the Chase Narrative, but trusts a more recently uncovered account. Fourteen year old cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, like Chase, was aboard the Essex when the whale struck. He lived through the 4,500 mile journey and wrote of his experiences, though his notes were never published. Philbrick makes use of Nickerson's notebook and other sources to provide us with a well-written and nicely-organized book. Like Melville, he engages our attention with a story of whales and ships and the sea, but he leaves us pondering our relationships with nature, Fate, and each other.
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