Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex

The Complete Illustrated Edition: The Extraordinary and Distressing Memoir That Inspired Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick

Relive the tragic tale of the sinking of the Whale Ship Essex in this illustrated edition of this classic American memoir, the story that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

Owen Chase was the first mate on the ill-fated American whaling ship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1820.

The crew spent months at sea in leaking boats and endured the blazing sun, attacks by killer whales, and lack of food. The men were forced to resort to cannibalism before the final eight survivors were rescued.

Herman Melville based his 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, on the sinking. Chase recorded the tale of the ship’s sinking and the following events with harrowing clarity in the Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex.

Filled with art, photographs, maps, and artifacts, this is a richly illustrated edition of Chase’s memoir, augmented with memoirs of other participants, as well as the perspectives of historians, contemporary and modern.

Author: Owen Chase

Paperback : 224 pages

SKU: P98156

The Owen Chase’s memoir which inspired Moby-Dick and In the Heart of the Sea, the major motion picture from Ron Howard,  released March 2015