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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (2000)

by Nathaniel Philbrick

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
6,3221671,508 (4.15)284
History. Nature. Nonfiction. HTML:Soon to be a major motion picture starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Ben Wishaw, and Brendan Gleeson, and directed by Ron Howard.
The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents-including a long-lost account written by the ship's cabin boy-and penetrating details about whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime disaster. An intense and mesmerizing listen, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon.… (more)
  1. 60
    Moby Dick by Herman Melville (jseger9000, aya.herron)
    jseger9000: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex tells the true story that inspired Melville to write Moby Dick.
  2. 30
    Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick (John_Vaughan, aya.herron)
  3. 10
    Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick (John_Vaughan)
  4. 10
    Wreck of the Medusa by Alexander McKee (John_Vaughan)
  5. 10
    The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea by Sebastian Junger (aya.herron)
  6. 10
    Five Black Ships: A Novel of the Discoverers by Napoleon Baccino Ponce De Leon (ricalyr)
  7. 10
    Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Othemts)
  8. 22
    Life of Pi by Yann Martel (BIzard)
  9. 00
    Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea by Frank Delaney (John_Vaughan)
  10. 00
    A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile Voyage of Its Survivors by Joe Jackson (bluetongue)
  11. 00
    Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick (John_Vaughan)
  12. 00
    Batavia by Peter FitzSimons (kenno82)
  13. 01
    Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken (ed.pendragon)
    ed.pendragon: This children's fantasy is a gentle parody based on Moby-Dick and so ultimately on the fate of the Essex.
  14. 02
    Moby Dick (Illustrated Classic Editions) by Shirley Bogart (mperson)
  15. 02
    Moby Dick: Or, the White Whale (An Abridged Edition) by Herman Melville (mperson)
  16. 02
    Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster by Richard F. Newcomb (mperson)
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» See also 284 mentions

English (162)  Spanish (4)  German (1)  All languages (167)
Showing 1-5 of 162 (next | show all)
A taut thriller bringing to life the story of the Essex and its crew. Rammed by a whale, the crew must make to land (safe land, not cannibal land) in small boats. ( )
  ben_r47 | Feb 22, 2024 |
An engaging story of the Whaleship Essex's sinking by a sperm whale, the disasterous trials of the crew for 96 days in their whaleboats, and biographical studies of the individual survivors. All of this with a mixing history of Nantucket and whaling in America. This isn't dry history. It will grip the reader, and carry you along page by page. Enjoy. ( )
  wvlibrarydude | Jan 14, 2024 |
This is one of the most horrifying historial pieces I've ever read. Philbrick does a good job of weaving disparate narratives together to tell the story of the doomed whaleship Essex from start to finish. The horrors the surviving crew endured are overwhelming and hard to imagine anyone surviving at all. ( )
  ohheybrian | Dec 29, 2023 |
Time and again, I am amazed by humans' ability to inflict and endure suffering. ( )
  mmparker | Oct 24, 2023 |
There was a lot more included in this story than I anticipated, we kind of rushed through the actual whale incident and focused on the...cannibalism. If you like your shipwreck stories to have cannibalism in them, this one has so much marrow-sucking content for you.
I didn't realize this was the inspiration behind Moby Dick, so that's a nudge towards getting me to pick that one up soon.
I'd say I enjoyed The Wager more than this, as it honed in on the ship experience and conditions much more. I listened to this on audiobook, and unless my ears were playing tricks, he references "the blacks" quite a bit, which falls pretty badly on my 2023 ears. ( )
  KallieGrace | Sep 1, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 162 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (9 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Nathaniel Philbrickprimary authorall editionscalculated
Brick, ScottNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Original title
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Epigraph
And in the greatness of thine excellency thou has over-
thrown them that rose up against thee: Thou sentest
forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And
with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered to-
gether, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the
depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

-EXODUS 15:7-8

This is the end of the whaleroad and the whale
Who spewed Nantucket bones in the thrashed swell....
This is the end of running on the waves;
We are poured out like water. Who will dance
The mast-lashed masters of Leviathans
Up from this field of Quakers in their unstoned graves?

-ROBERT LOWELL,
"The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket"
Dedication
To Melissa
First words
Like a giant bird of prey, the whaleship moved lazily up the western coast of South America, zigging and zagging across a living sea of oil.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Please do not combine with Revenge of the Whale which is an adaptation for younger readers of In the Heart of the Sea.
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC
History. Nature. Nonfiction. HTML:Soon to be a major motion picture starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Ben Wishaw, and Brendan Gleeson, and directed by Ron Howard.
The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents-including a long-lost account written by the ship's cabin boy-and penetrating details about whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime disaster. An intense and mesmerizing listen, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon.

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