'Moby Dick' captain's ship found

'Moby Dick' captain's ship found

www.bbc.co.uk

US marine archaeologists have found the sunken whaling ship belonging to the captain who inspired Herman Melville's classic 19th Century novel, Moby Dick.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
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What an amazing find! To find a ship belonging to the ship captain who inspired one of the most recognized man vs. beast and seafaring tales ever written. The book was Jaws before Spielberg did his foray into the man vs. beast genre.

Hopefully, the discovery can shed more light on the whaling industry and its seafaring profiteers who underwent excruciating circumstances to find the other energy source before black gold. By all accounts the profession was one of the most dangerous during the period of the latter 1700s and early1800s. This was sailing before the advent of the iron clad vessels, GPS, Coastguard rescues, and other advantages we see on documentaries and shows like on "The Deadliest Catch."

As the article above mentioned, the ship itself was not the actual vessel which inspired the seminal book called the Essex, but a boat belonging to the captain of the Essex, Skipper George Pollard. Apparently, life imitates art quite frequently. Amazing find, and adds further historical emphasis to the long storied tale of the high stakes world of whaling during a period when whale blubber was used as viable energy source.

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Jakes51


After the Essex sank, Capt Pollard and his crew drifted at sea without food and water for three months and even resorted to cannibalism before they were rescued.

Pollard gave up whaling and became a night watchman in Nantucket, Massachusetts.



this should be a movie!!

reply to post by darrman


Yeah, the true story of what happened would make one hell of a movie. What happened to the Essex was an amazing tale of survival in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. If I had to go through with what Pollard did I would probably resort to being a nightwatchman as well. Quite a story.

Awesome find! Who knew Sperm Whales would be so aggressive, what a freak experience. Can you imagine the horror of being rammed by an aggressive whale and sinking your ship? Right up at the top of the list along with Giant Squid (or the Kraaken, eek) descending upon you. Horror stories of the oceans...

reply to post by Jakes51


3 months without WATER...wow

i would really like to know all the details...

reply to post by LadySkadi


Yeah, I never knew they were that aggressive either. Getting rammed by one of the behemoths in those wood hulled ships must have felt like a person in a car getting hit by a freight train. It goes to show how vulnerable mankind is when at sea. To put things into perspective, I was on an aircraft carrier and took some rough seas near Korea and that ship bounced around like it was a toy. Moreover, some of the ship photographers caught photos of waves cresting the flight deck.

reply to post by Jakes51


Good find!

Did you also read the linked story Sea monster whale fossil found ?

...It is thought to have been more than 17m long...
The researchers speculate that Leviathan was able to feed on very large prey up to 8m long....

The authors of the report in Nature, who are all whale experts, are fans of the novel Moby Dick, which involves a ferocious white sperm whale.

So taken are they with the novel that they decided to dedicate their discovery to the author, Herman Melville, and give the creature its full scientific name of Leviathan melvillei.

Originally posted by darrman
reply to post by Jakes51

 

3 months without WATER...wow

i would really like to know all the details...

I will take their word for it. Being at sea for 3 mouths without water and having to resort to eating people is something I would not want to experience ever. No doubt quite a harrowing ordeal.

thats cool!

i read the book, but i had no idea it was based on a true story...
this is simply amazing ..

Originally posted by darrman
reply to post by Jakes51

 

3 months without WATER...wow

i would really like to know all the details...

Love the sarcasm!

Maybe their ship sank slowly and they took enough water provisions with them, and cleverly collected rain water. Maybe they even took apparatus to distill the billions of gallons of sea water available to them!?

The mind boggles, but without being a sea faring person i reckon with a bit of experience I could survive a few weeks hardship at sea, being a born surviver like.

I believe the story was mentioned on a excellent PBS series covering whaling. I believe the "bull" sperm whales can be aggressive, perhaps the whale that struck their ship was both of this sort and maybe a tad bit on the crazy side. Whales are intelligent animals, so I don't see it being impossible that this whale has seen/been traumatized by past whaling on his pod...

But seriously, a movie treatment of this horror story could be very excellent. Especially if the majority of the film focuses exclusively on the survivors making the ramming event the least terrifying ordeal...