In the heart of the sea : the tragedy of the whaleship Essex

Resource Information

The work In the heart of the sea : the tragedy of the whaleship Essex represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Ipswich Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

In the heart of the sea : the tragedy of the whaleship Essex

Title remainder

the tragedy of the whaleship Essex

Statement of responsibility

by Nathaniel Philbrick

Creator

• Philbrick, Nathaniel

Subject

• Essex (Whaleship)
• Shipwrecks -- Pacific Ocean

Language

eng

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

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

910/.9164

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps
• plates

Index

index present

LC call number

G530.E77

LC item number

P45 2000

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography