Bibliograph

In the heart of the sea, the tragedy of the whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Type

Label

In the heart of the sea, the tragedy of the whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-289) and index

Illustrations

illustrationsplatesmaps

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

In the heart of the sea

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

42736296

Responsibility statement

by Nathaniel Philbrick

Sub title

the tragedy of the whaleship Essex

Summary

In 1819, the 238-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, the unthinkable happened: in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, the Essex was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, decided instead to sail their three tiny boats for the distant South American coast. They would eventually travel over 4,500 miles. The next three months tested just how far humans could go in their battle against the sea as, one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease and fear. ... This is a timeless account of the human spirit under extreme duress, but it is also a story about a community and about the kind of men and women who lived in a forbidding, remote island like Nantucket. -- Dust jacket

Classification