July 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Massive whales hunted from tiny rowboats. Men covered head-to-toe in blood and oil. A ship sunk by an angry leviathan. Welcome to the brutal world of 19th-century whaling.
"Oil makes the world go round." This simple truth connected our petroleum-powered present with a past fueled by whale oil. The Essex, an aging 87-foot whaling vessel from Nantucket, set sail in August 1819 under newly-promoted Captain George Pollard Jr. with a crew of twenty men. Most were inexperienced sailors who'd taken this dangerous work as a last resort - and for good reason.
This episode plunges you into the harrowing realities of life aboard a whaling ship, where danger lurked everywhere and comfort was non-existent. You'll discover the economics of whaling (spoiler: the owners got rich while sailors earned pennies), the stark racial hierarchies that determined sleeping arrangements, and the mind-boggling bravery (or insanity) required to hunt 80-ton animals from a small wooden boat with hand-thrown weapons.
The hunting process itself was nightmare fuel. After harpooning a whale, sailors would be dragged through rough seas at breakneck speeds before approaching the exhausted animal to stab it repeatedly until it drowned in its own blood. Then came days of processing the carcass on deck - a hellscape of smoke, gore, and relentless labor as blubber was stripped, chopped, and boiled down into precious oil.
The Essex's voyage faced early disaster when a severe storm nearly capsized the ship, destroying two whaling boats. After slowly building success off the South American coast, they were heading for the Galapagos Islands when the unthinkable happened - a massive sperm whale attacked and sank their ship, setting the stage for one of history's most notorious survival stories that would later inspire Moby Dick.
Join us next week as we continue the harrowing tale of the Essex and discover the terrifying lengths humans will go to when faced with the ultimate survival situation.
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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Oil.
Oil makes the world go round.
That's as true today as it wasin the 19th century.
The main difference now iswhere that oil comes from.
Today it's drilled and pumpedfrom the ground, but way back in
the 19th century things werejust a little bit different and
(00:22):
what I can only assume was waymore terrifying.
The oil came from whales, andin the 19th century the whale
industry was booming.
The oil was highly sought afterfor use in lighting and machine
lubrication, and I know I'vesaid this before, but sailing in
(00:42):
the 19th century, or anycentury, really had to be
fucking terrifying, on top ofjust the normal dangers of
sailing.
Now you're adding in huntingthe largest animal known to man,
and on a little ass rowboat atthat.
Nope, I'll pass on that,because sometimes, on that,
Because sometimes, justsometimes these big ass whales
(01:05):
say nope, not today and attack,which is exactly what happened
on November 20th 1820.
While on a whaling expedition,the Essex was attacked and sunk
by a large sperm whale.
The 20-man crew would survivethe attack but were trapped on
these little-ass whaling boatson the open ocean thousands of
(01:28):
miles from land.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this is History'sA Disaster.
Tonight we're diving like asperm whale into the tragedy
(01:52):
that would inspire HermanMelville's classic novel Moby
Dick.
The sinking of the whale shipthe Essex greatly inspired the
climactic scene in Moby Dick, aswell as different themes that
ran throughout the novel.
But enough dick talk, let's getinto it.
The sinking of the Essex wasthe most famous maritime
disaster in the 19th century.
Of the 20 men that set sailfrom Nantucket, the whaling
(02:12):
capital of the world at the time, only 8 men would survive the
voyage to return home bydifferent routes after being
separated in their desperatefight for survival on the open
ocean.
And just a little note on theepisodes.
The main source of research wasthe Heart of the Ocean by
Nathan Philbrick, and tonight'sepisode will also be featuring
(02:35):
graphic displays of what wouldbe considered animal cruelty.
So just a little warning Now.
The Essex was crewed by CaptainGeorge Pollard Jr, first mate
Owen Chase, second mate MatthewJoy, boat steers Benjamin
Lawrence, obed Hendricks, thomasChappell, stuart William Bond,
(02:57):
sailors Owen Coffin, isaac Cole,henry DeWitt, richard Peterson,
charles Ramsdale, barzilla Ray,samuel Reed, isaac Shepard,
charles Shorter, lawson ThomasSeth Weeks, joseph West, william
Wright and finally cabin boyThomas Nickerson.
(03:18):
And the book the Heart of theSea was based on Thomas
Nickerson's account of whathappened on the ship In July of
1819,.
The Essex was but one of 70whale ships in the Nantucket
fleet, plying their trade inboth the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans.
In a time when the globaleconomy was in a depression,
(03:39):
whale oil prices, however, weresteadily increasing.
The little island village ofNantucket was fast becoming the
richest town in America.
The Essex was a small old ship,being only 87 feet long and a
238 ton displacement, but shewas often regarded as a lucky
(04:00):
ship, its previous captainshaving made several successful
voyages which made the ownersextremely happy and wealthy.
The previous captain had beenpromoted to a larger vessel and
George Pollard Jr was promotedfrom first mate to captain and
given command of the Essex.
With his promotion, severalothers of the crew were also
(04:23):
promoted.
Now Nantucket was a highlyreligious town, being ran almost
entirely by the Quakers, makingthem extremely pious but savage
businessmen and sailors andalso a bit prone to superstition
.
There were several sightings ofa comet in the sky which, to
them, meant something strangewas about to happen.
(04:43):
Add to that, the rumors of agiant sea serpent-like creature
spotted up and down the eastcoast and many people were left
wondering if now was really agreat time to be going out on
the ocean.
Considering how much they gotpaid to go out on a whale ship,
(05:04):
I'm not sure any time was theright time to go.
Sailors on whale ships didn'tget paid a regular wage.
They got paid a share ofwhatever they brought in.
For example, the cabin boy ofthe Essex on the previous voyage
received a 1,198th share, withthe Essex bringing in a total of
(05:25):
$26,500 on its previous voyage.
The cabin boy was paid afterall.
His expenses were paid, sinceyou know damn well the owners
are going to nickel and dime youfor whatever they can.
A whopping total of $150 for atwo-year voyage, which was
obviously not great even backthen.
(05:47):
Granted, he got free room andboard and a ton of experience as
a whaleman From the voyage, hestill didn't get paid shit
compared to what the owners made.
The crew members on a Nantucketwhale ship were also expected to
help prepare the ship for thevoyage.
In effect, they were givingfree labor.
This was a practice that waspretty much only done in
(06:09):
Nantucket.
Through the month of July therewas a lot of work being done on
the Essex.
The entire upper deck wasrebuilt, it was pulled up and
the hull was re-coppered.
The Essex was 20 years old atthis point and was getting near
the point of having to beretired.
There was some suspicion at thetime that while they've rebuilt
(06:29):
the entire top half of the ship, they may have cheaped out on
fixing up anything below thewaterline.
Ship owners were notoriouslycheap and the owners of the
Essex had just purchased a newer, larger ship, so most likely
didn't want to spend much onsuch an old ship.
It's also well known thatowners often cut corners in
(06:52):
under-provisioned ships, meaningthey didn't send enough things
like beef or hardtack.
Because why spend money on food?
It's not like people need toeat or anything.
By the end of July the Essex wasnearly ready to go, but still
only half crewed.
Being a brand new, captainPollard had to defer to more
experienced captains when itcame to picking his crew and all
(07:16):
that was left was the ones noone else wanted.
And since there was no one leftto fill the remaining spots,
they had to rely onnon-Nantucket sailors to fill
the crew.
So they contacted an agent inBoston to get as many black
sailors as they could findOutside of Nantucket.
Taking work on a whaling shipwas kind of a last resort,
(07:38):
bottom of the barrel situation.
For most it was not a verydesirable position, which will
become painfully obvious laterin the episode.
As they waited for more men, theEssex was loaded up with what
provisions and stores they'dneed for the voyage, with
(07:58):
thousands of gallons of freshwater, tons of food and lots and
lots of whaling equipment,harpoons and lances and shit
like that.
By this time seven blacksailors had agreed to join the
voyage and were on their way toNantucket.
While they would never beconsidered as equals to anyone
from Nantucket and no one reallywas they were a bit snobbish
(08:22):
about anyone not born onNantucket.
They would get paid the same asanyone else.
Everyone got paid according totheir rank.
They didn't give a damn aboutshit like race Out on the ocean.
They had to rely on any manaboard regardless, although I'd
be lying if I said racism didn'tplay a small part in how they
were treated aboard ship.
(08:43):
By August 11th, everyone exceptthe captain was aboard ship and
they had one final opportunityto party it up with another
whaling ship, the Chili, withoutthe captains there, to rain on
their parade.
That night, while the two shipspartied, another rumor of a
bizarre omen was circulatingtown.
Swarms of grasshoppers werespotted covering the earth and
(09:07):
tearing up the turnip fields.
And for both these ships, thecomet and the grasshoppers,
along with talks of Sea Serpent,would spell disaster for both
voyages.
The Chili would spend nearlyfour years at sea and return
with barely a quarter of itsholds filled with oil, making it
more of a financial disasterthan anything, but a disaster
(09:30):
nonetheless, and nowhere near asdark as what was about to
unfold for the crew of the Essex.
On August 12th, captain Pollardwould join the crew on the Essex
.
This was his first time beingin command of a ship but since
he'd spent nearly the entiretyof the last four years on board
the Essex as either the first orsecond mate, no one, with the
(09:52):
exception of the previouscaptain, knew her better.
With everyone now on board,they were ready to go, and
leaving the town could alwayslead to a bit of embarrassment
for a captain, especially a newcaptain such as Pollard.
The town always came out to seea whale ship off, and among
them were always older sailorsand the ship's owners watching
(10:14):
and judging the ship as it left.
And, as the case with the Essex, most of the crew was new and
had no idea what they were doing.
They bumbled about the deck,not knowing the difference
between a mast and a spar andwhat the hell are all these
ropes for.
Anyways, captain Pollard yelledout orders, trying to get them
to make some sense of the chaoson deck.
(10:36):
Owen Chase, being the firstmate, repeated the orders and
yelled and belittled the menuntil they got to doing what
they were supposed to be doing.
Eventually they got done Veryslowly but done and they were
finally on their way.
(11:01):
Once on their way, they dividedthe crew up into shifts and then
picking who would be on whichof the three whale boats.
Native Nantucketers would bethe first picks.
Nantucketers were always themost desirable amongst the
clannish nature of a whale shipfollowed by the few men they got
from Cape Cod.
And then the black sailorswould be last picked.
The men would eat and sleep inthree separate areas of the ship
(11:22):
, with the captain and mateshaving their own cabins in the
rear of the ship.
Just forward of them wassteerage, where the boat
steerers and any Nantucketerswould eat and sleep.
And at the very front of theship was the forecastle, an
extremely cramped and dark areaseparated from steerage by the
(11:43):
blubber room.
And of course, they put theblack sailors in the worst area,
but they made the best of it Inthe most forward part of the
ship.
They didn't have to worry aboutbeing constantly watched by
officers or having to keep quiet.
They had their own little worldwhere they were a bit more free
to sing and dance and smoke anddo shit that the white sailors
(12:06):
back in steerage couldn't do,since they had the officers of
the ship right there to put astop to it by the next day.
Many of the first-timers wereseasick and the Nantucketers had
the perfect cure for thatThey'd tie a piece of pork fat
to a string and the seasicksailor would swallow it, and
then they'd yank that shit backout again.
(12:28):
And if you still felt sickafter that, they'd do it again
till your symptoms went away.
Yeah, nope, I'd be good at justwatching it happen to someone
else, cause.
Well, fuck that.
And on top of most of thembeing seasick, they'd all have
to take turns watching forwhales, which meant climbing to
the top of the main mast,clinging to it as the boat
(12:50):
pitched and rocked in the seaand looked for whales.
And good luck not puking,because you know that mast was
just swaying all over the damnplace and being a lookout wasn't
like in the cartoons, where yougot a nice little spot up there
.
Oh no, that'd be way too nice.
If you were lucky, you had acouple iron hoops to hold on to.
(13:11):
Now that they were at sea, theywere making their way to Cape
Horn and since it's basically alarge sailboat, they couldn't
take a direct path.
They were at the mercy of thewinds.
They sailed towards Europe andAfrica, before catching the
winds that would take them south, to South America and Cape Horn
.
On their way to the coast, theyhad a couple stops planned
(13:33):
where they could buy vegetablesand livestock cheaper than what
was available at home.
They were making good timeheading to their first stop in
the Azores.
Every sail they had was set andthey were hitting a whopping
six knots, which was unfortunatetheir third day at sea and the
weather was starting to take ashift.
(13:53):
The sea started getting rocky asthey sailed through the night.
The morning brought a steadyrain with it.
Some of the sails were taken in, but not enough.
They miscalculated the severityof the storm clouds brewing on
the horizon as they sailedtowards them.
By the time they realized theirmistake, with lightning
streaking across the sky, it wasmuch too late.
(14:15):
They tried to turn from thestorm but the Essex was way too
slow.
The wind slammed broadside intothe ship.
The ghastly sound of the windripping through the rigging and
tearing at the sails unnervedthe new sailors.
The wind pushed and pushedagainst the side of the ship.
(14:38):
The ship's keel and ballast,weighing the ship down at first,
refused to bow to the pressure,eventually relented.
The ship was tilting in thewind.
The mast with all those sailsstill set worked against the
ship and dragged her over.
The Essex was flipped nearly 90degrees on her side as she
(15:00):
floundered in the storm.
The crew clung desperately toanything they could reach to
stop from being pulled into thesea.
Cargo in the holds was knockedabout as men dodged the flying
debris inside the ship.
Two of the whale boats on theport side were smashed beneath
the sea.
The cookhouse was smashed bythe heavy stone and cookware and
(15:21):
damn near tore from the ship.
With the hull blocking the wind, there was a moment of calm on
the deck.
Pollard seized the opportunityto assert command and issue
orders to get the crew moving.
They had to get the ship toright itself before it dipped
too far into the ocean.
They tried to run as much saildown as possible, but things
(15:43):
just weren't working right.
The order to break out the axesand cut the mast loose was
about to be given, as they feltthe ship start to shift again.
The blast in the hold hadreasserted itself and the ship
began to right itself, but theyweren't out of danger yet.
They were now pointed into thewind.
(16:03):
The wind was no longer a squallbut was pushing hard into the
sails.
The whale boat at the rear ofthe ship took a beating as the
Essex was pushed backwards.
The masts howled and groaned asthey were pushed in ways not
(16:25):
designed to go.
The possibility of losing allthree masts was real if they
decided to come down.
The ship eventually turnedenough to fill the sails and
send them in the right direction.
The Essex, however, had sufferedsevere damage from the storm.
The cookhouse was gone.
Most of its main sails wereripped and useless.
(16:46):
The two port side whale boats,along with all the gear, was
smashed and washed away.
The stern whale boat wascrushed, but with a lot of work
fixable.
However, this would leave themwith only three boats.
A normal whale ship used threeboats with two spares, so not a
good position for the crew to bein.
(17:07):
After a discussion between theofficers, the decision was made
to continue on to their firstprovisioning stop in Azores
rather than returning toNantucket for repairs.
They figured they could pick upa few spare whale boats at the
port.
Plus, there was the fear, ifthey returned to Nantucket, that
many of the crew would abandonship and not return, and many of
(17:30):
them probably would have Morethan just a few regretted their
decision to go on the voyage asthey repaired the ship and
sailed on.
Before reaching Azores they ranacross the beached whale ship
that had hit some rocks offshoreand beached the ship before it
could be sunk.
The Essex managed to buy thelone whale boat they had left
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and it was an old, leaky pieceof shit, but at least it was
better than nothing.
Afterwards they made it to theharbor at Azores and traded a
barrel and a half of beans for30 skinny ass pigs.
So the deck of the Essex wasfilled with the sounds of these
squealing pigs and smelling likepig shit, and I bet the smell
(18:12):
went real well with anyone stillseasick.
After leaving and passing theequator, the Essex finally found
what they came out for.
The lookouts gave a shout ofDar, she blows the signal a
whale spout had been spotted.
Finally, after three months ofnot seeing anything, a whale had
(18:35):
been spotted and with that theorders were shouted and the
whale boats were prepped.
Harpoons were sharpened onelast time as tons of harpoon
lines were loaded.
Now they waited.
Once the ship was within a mileof the whale it was brought to
a standstill.
The whale boats were lowered asthe crews manned them.
(18:55):
The Essex would be left with acrew of three as the whale boats
went after their prey.
With the whale boats in thewater, the competition began.
The first to get to the whalewould get bragging rights and
determine who was the bettercrew.
They gave it their all as theyrowed and bore down on their
unsuspecting prey, with thecaptain or mate encouraging
(19:17):
their men on faster and fasterthey pushed forward.
In the end it would be firstmate Owens Chase's boat that got
there first.
They were now within feet ofthe whale, perfect for the
harpoon.
Now it's up to Benjamin Lawrence, a novice harpooner who just
spent a mile rowing hard toharpoon the giant whale.
(19:38):
He braced himself for the throw, terror filling him as he eyed
the whale and Chase urged him on.
But before he could lift andthrow the.
The boat cracked and splintered, sending the crew flying.
A second whale had came upbeneath them and, with a flick
(20:00):
of its massive tail, sent thewhale boat airborne.
Its entire side caved in.
The whale quickly disappeared.
As the crew clung to thewreckage, most of them didn't
know how to swim.
Most sailors at the time neverlearned.
The other two crews had toabandon the hunt and rescue
Chase's crew, and it would takeseveral days for his smashed
(20:23):
whale boat to be repaired.
Just in time for more whales tobe spotted.
And this time Chase's crewwould succeed.
A harpoon was hurled andslammed into the side of the
whale, securing the tiny whaleboat to the massive creature.
The harpoon does not kill thewhale.
Instead, it sends it into afrenzy.
The whale drags the boat alongfor miles, getting up to speeds
(20:47):
of 15 to 20 knots, bouncing andbanging the boat around the
entire time.
Once it starts to tire itselfout, the crew pulls on the
harpoon line, pulling them inchby inch to the massive beast.
Once near it, chase makes hisway to the front of the boat,
taking out the 12-foot longkilling lance, using its
(21:07):
sharpened end to pierce thewhale over and over the water
surrounding the boat runs red asthe whale is pierced.
Jay stabs and wiggles the lancein the beast as he searches for
the coil of arteries near thelungs.
Once he hits the mark, thewhale starts to choke on its own
blood, spouting a 15-footgeyser of blood and gore into
(21:28):
the air.
With the whale drowning in gore, the blood-covered crew quickly
back the boat away.
In its death throes the whalebeats at the water with its tail
, sniffing its jaws in the airas it vomits undigested fish and
squid.
And then it just stops.
The whale falls motionless,floating belly up in a pool of
(21:49):
its own blood and vomit.
Now the hard work begins.
They head to tow the whale headfirst back to the Essex.
With the weight of the whalethey were lucky to go one mile
an hour.
It would be after dark beforethey'd make it back to the Essex
.
And once at the Essex thebutchery began.
(22:10):
The whale is secured to the sideof the ship and the cutting
plank is lowered.
The crew hacks a hole into itsside above the fin and sets a
giant hook into it.
The hook is attached to ablocking tackle system on the
ship, attached to the windlass.
The ship creaks with the strain.
As the hook is pulled up, thecrew continues to cut the start
(22:31):
of a 5 foot wide strip into thewhale's side.
The hook continues its pullupwards, ripping a 20-foot long
strip from the whale.
It's hoisted up into the shipand dropped into the blubber
room where it's chopped up intosmaller pieces.
The crew continues until all theblubber has been removed from
the whale and once it'scompletely stripped, its massive
(22:54):
head is cut off.
The head of the whale is nearlya third of its length and once
it's hoisted on deck they cut ahole into a cavity in the skull.
The cavity can hold almost 500gallons of spermaceti.
They use buckets to get as muchof the sought-after oil.
The deck of the Essex iscovered in spilled oil and blood
(23:14):
as they work.
After stripping the whale, theydig in its intestines for
ambergris, a fatty substanceused in perfumes and is rather
expensive.
Finding this would be a nicebonus for the crew.
And once they were donestripping and mutilating the
corpse, they cut it free andjust dumped it in the ocean With
(23:35):
the blubber.
Now in the blubber room, theystarted trying out the whale.
They had to cut the tough,thick blubber into smaller
pieces and place them in largetripods to boil the blubber down
into the precious oil.
The blood stained and oilslickened deck is filled with
thick black smoke as the firesrage during the boiling process.
(23:57):
For three days the fires burnas cask after cask is filled
with the boiled down oil, thecrew takes on a demonic
appearance red-rimmed eyes fromthe smoke and covered in blood
and oil.
The experienced sailors worethe same clothes until the
trying out process was over.
Some of the new sailors,disgusted by the blood and oil,
(24:20):
chose to change clothes andquickly destroyed every stitch
of clothing they had, whichforced them to buy new clothes
from the ship's slop chest atextremely marked up prices.
Of course, the slop chest wasthe maritime equivalent of a
company store, so this would endup costing them nearly
everything they wouldpotentially earn.
(24:42):
On the voyage Nearing Cape Horn.
They had now been at sea forfour months with only the single
whale to show for it.
The fear of the voyage wouldtake much longer than two years
increased the tension among thecrew, along with food being
another major point ofdiscontent among the men, while
the officers got to sit at atable with plates and silverware
(25:04):
and enjoy all the vegetablesand salt pork when fresh meat
wasn't available they could eat.
The rest of the crew weren't solucky.
Down in steerage in Forecastlethey sat around a large wooden
tub on their sea chest.
Inside the tub was a salty asshunk of meat.
They had been sitting inseawater for a day to make it
(25:25):
soft enough to chew.
And for utensils they usedwhatever knife they had and a
spoon, along with a tin cup forcoffee or tea.
And instead of vegetables andfresh bread they had hardtack
that hard as a rock biscuit.
They usually needed to besoaked in water to soften it up.
And when the men dared tocomplain about their food,
(25:47):
captain Pollard tore them a newone.
Threats of flogging and muchworse were made.
The captain had shown hisbackbone and there would be no
further complaints aboutprovisions, provisions.
(26:10):
It would be several more monthsof no whales as they rounded
Cape Horn and hit the ocean offthe coast of Peru.
Here they would be fairlysuccessful, bringing in 450
barrels of oil in just twomonths.
They were hitting an exhaustingpace of a whale every five days
.
But the weather didn't helptheir efforts one bit.
With harsh winds and rough seas.
They fought the ocean as muchas the whales.
(26:31):
They hunted the rapid pace ofthe hunt helped to turn the
green whale men into experiencedones.
They became desensitized totheir grisly work and saw the
butchery as nothing more than ameans to an end, not only in
terms of money, but each cask,each drop of oil was one step
closer to what they all wantedto go home Soon they would move
(26:56):
on from Peru to an area of theocean they knew as the offshore
grounds where whales congregated.
Around November, they had justtwo more stops to make one in
South America to get freshfruits, vegetables and water.
Then it's on to the Galapagosto get some turtles, and that is
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where we're going to call it aday.
Come back next week for morefun on the Galapagos Islands and
the cruise adventure into theoffshore grounds.
Thanks for listening and if youliked the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and follow
the show on social media atHistoryIsADisaster on Facebook,
(27:40):
instagram and a few others, andshare the episode, because
sharing is caring, and if therewas more caring in the world,
maybe history wouldn't be adisaster.
Thanks and goodbye.
Oil.
Oil makes the world go round.
That's as true today as it wasin the 19th century.
The main difference now iswhere that oil comes from.
Today it's drilled and pumpedfrom the ground, but way back in
the 19th century things werejust a little bit different and
(00:22):
what I can only assume was waymore terrifying.
The oil came from whales, andin the 19th century the whale
industry was booming.
The oil was highly sought afterfor use in lighting and machine
lubrication, and I know I'vesaid this before, but sailing in
(00:42):
the 19th century, or anycentury, really had to be
fucking terrifying, on top ofjust the normal dangers of
sailing.
Now you're adding in huntingthe largest animal known to man,
and on a little ass rowboat atthat.
Nope, I'll pass on that,because sometimes, on that,
Because sometimes, justsometimes these big ass whales
(01:05):
say nope, not today and attack,which is exactly what happened
on November 20th 1820.
While on a whaling expedition,the Essex was attacked and sunk
by a large sperm whale.
The 20-man crew would survivethe attack but were trapped on
these little-ass whaling boatson the open ocean thousands of
(01:28):
miles from land.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this is History'sA Disaster.
Tonight we're diving like asperm whale into the tragedy
(01:52):
that would inspire HermanMelville's classic novel Moby
Dick.
The sinking of the whale shipthe Essex greatly inspired the
climactic scene in Moby Dick, aswell as different themes that
ran throughout the novel.
But enough dick talk, let's getinto it.
The sinking of the Essex wasthe most famous maritime
disaster in the 19th century.
Of the 20 men that set sailfrom Nantucket, the whaling
(02:12):
capital of the world at the time, only 8 men would survive the
voyage to return home bydifferent routes after being
separated in their desperatefight for survival on the open
ocean.
And just a little note on theepisodes.
The main source of research wasthe Heart of the Ocean by
Nathan Philbrick, and tonight'sepisode will also be featuring
(02:35):
graphic displays of what wouldbe considered animal cruelty.
So just a little warning Now.
The Essex was crewed by CaptainGeorge Pollard Jr, first mate
Owen Chase, second mate MatthewJoy, boat steers Benjamin
Lawrence, obed Hendricks, thomasChappell, stuart William Bond,
(02:57):
sailors Owen Coffin, isaac Cole,henry DeWitt, richard Peterson,
charles Ramsdale, barzilla Ray,samuel Reed, isaac Shepard,
charles Shorter, lawson ThomasSeth Weeks, joseph West, william
Wright and finally cabin boyThomas Nickerson.
(03:18):
And the book the Heart of theSea was based on Thomas
Nickerson's account of whathappened on the ship In July of
1819,.
The Essex was but one of 70whale ships in the Nantucket
fleet, plying their trade inboth the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans.
In a time when the globaleconomy was in a depression,
(03:39):
whale oil prices, however, weresteadily increasing.
The little island village ofNantucket was fast becoming the
richest town in America.
The Essex was a small old ship,being only 87 feet long and a
238 ton displacement, but shewas often regarded as a lucky
(04:00):
ship, its previous captainshaving made several successful
voyages which made the ownersextremely happy and wealthy.
The previous captain had beenpromoted to a larger vessel and
George Pollard Jr was promotedfrom first mate to captain and
given command of the Essex.
With his promotion, severalothers of the crew were also
(04:23):
promoted.
Now Nantucket was a highlyreligious town, being ran almost
entirely by the Quakers, makingthem extremely pious but savage
businessmen and sailors andalso a bit prone to superstition
.
There were several sightings ofa comet in the sky which, to
them, meant something strangewas about to happen.
(04:43):
Add to that, the rumors of agiant sea serpent-like creature
spotted up and down the eastcoast and many people were left
wondering if now was really agreat time to be going out on
the ocean.
Considering how much they gotpaid to go out on a whale ship,
(05:04):
I'm not sure any time was theright time to go.
Sailors on whale ships didn'tget paid a regular wage.
They got paid a share ofwhatever they brought in.
For example, the cabin boy ofthe Essex on the previous voyage
received a 1,198th share, withthe Essex bringing in a total of
(05:25):
$26,500 on its previous voyage.
The cabin boy was paid afterall.
His expenses were paid, sinceyou know damn well the owners
are going to nickel and dime youfor whatever they can.
A whopping total of $150 for atwo-year voyage, which was
obviously not great even backthen.
(05:47):
Granted, he got free room andboard and a ton of experience as
a whaleman From the voyage, hestill didn't get paid shit
compared to what the owners made.
The crew members on a Nantucketwhale ship were also expected to
help prepare the ship for thevoyage.
In effect, they were givingfree labor.
This was a practice that waspretty much only done in
(06:09):
Nantucket.
Through the month of July therewas a lot of work being done on
the Essex.
The entire upper deck wasrebuilt, it was pulled up and
the hull was re-coppered.
The Essex was 20 years old atthis point and was getting near
the point of having to beretired.
There was some suspicion at thetime that while they've rebuilt
(06:29):
the entire top half of the ship, they may have cheaped out on
fixing up anything below thewaterline.
Ship owners were notoriouslycheap and the owners of the
Essex had just purchased a newer, larger ship, so most likely
didn't want to spend much onsuch an old ship.
It's also well known thatowners often cut corners in
(06:52):
under-provisioned ships, meaningthey didn't send enough things
like beef or hardtack.
Because why spend money on food?
It's not like people need toeat or anything.
By the end of July the Essex wasnearly ready to go, but still
only half crewed.
Being a brand new, captainPollard had to defer to more
experienced captains when itcame to picking his crew and all
(07:16):
that was left was the ones noone else wanted.
And since there was no one leftto fill the remaining spots,
they had to rely onnon-Nantucket sailors to fill
the crew.
So they contacted an agent inBoston to get as many black
sailors as they could findOutside of Nantucket.
Taking work on a whaling shipwas kind of a last resort,
(07:38):
bottom of the barrel situation.
For most it was not a verydesirable position, which will
become painfully obvious laterin the episode.
As they waited for more men, theEssex was loaded up with what
provisions and stores they'dneed for the voyage, with
(07:58):
thousands of gallons of freshwater, tons of food and lots and
lots of whaling equipment,harpoons and lances and shit
like that.
By this time seven blacksailors had agreed to join the
voyage and were on their way toNantucket.
While they would never beconsidered as equals to anyone
from Nantucket and no one reallywas they were a bit snobbish
(08:22):
about anyone not born onNantucket.
They would get paid the same asanyone else.
Everyone got paid according totheir rank.
They didn't give a damn aboutshit like race Out on the ocean.
They had to rely on any manaboard regardless, although I'd
be lying if I said racism didn'tplay a small part in how they
were treated aboard ship.
(08:43):
By August 11th, everyone exceptthe captain was aboard ship and
they had one final opportunityto party it up with another
whaling ship, the Chili, withoutthe captains there, to rain on
their parade.
That night, while the two shipspartied, another rumor of a
bizarre omen was circulatingtown.
Swarms of grasshoppers werespotted covering the earth and
(09:07):
tearing up the turnip fields.
And for both these ships, thecomet and the grasshoppers,
along with talks of Sea Serpent,would spell disaster for both
voyages.
The Chili would spend nearlyfour years at sea and return
with barely a quarter of itsholds filled with oil, making it
more of a financial disasterthan anything, but a disaster
(09:30):
nonetheless, and nowhere near asdark as what was about to
unfold for the crew of the Essex.
On August 12th, captain Pollardwould join the crew on the Essex
.
This was his first time beingin command of a ship but since
he'd spent nearly the entiretyof the last four years on board
the Essex as either the first orsecond mate, no one, with the
(09:52):
exception of the previouscaptain, knew her better.
With everyone now on board,they were ready to go, and
leaving the town could alwayslead to a bit of embarrassment
for a captain, especially a newcaptain such as Pollard.
The town always came out to seea whale ship off, and among
them were always older sailorsand the ship's owners watching
(10:14):
and judging the ship as it left.
And, as the case with the Essex, most of the crew was new and
had no idea what they were doing.
They bumbled about the deck,not knowing the difference
between a mast and a spar andwhat the hell are all these
ropes for.
Anyways, captain Pollard yelledout orders, trying to get them
to make some sense of the chaoson deck.
(10:36):
Owen Chase, being the firstmate, repeated the orders and
yelled and belittled the menuntil they got to doing what
they were supposed to be doing.
Eventually they got done Veryslowly but done and they were
finally on their way.
(11:01):
Once on their way, they dividedthe crew up into shifts and then
picking who would be on whichof the three whale boats.
Native Nantucketers would bethe first picks.
Nantucketers were always themost desirable amongst the
clannish nature of a whale shipfollowed by the few men they got
from Cape Cod.
And then the black sailorswould be last picked.
The men would eat and sleep inthree separate areas of the ship
(11:22):
, with the captain and mateshaving their own cabins in the
rear of the ship.
Just forward of them wassteerage, where the boat
steerers and any Nantucketerswould eat and sleep.
And at the very front of theship was the forecastle, an
extremely cramped and dark areaseparated from steerage by the
(11:43):
blubber room.
And of course, they put theblack sailors in the worst area,
but they made the best of it Inthe most forward part of the
ship.
They didn't have to worry aboutbeing constantly watched by
officers or having to keep quiet.
They had their own little worldwhere they were a bit more free
to sing and dance and smoke anddo shit that the white sailors
(12:06):
back in steerage couldn't do,since they had the officers of
the ship right there to put astop to it by the next day.
Many of the first-timers wereseasick and the Nantucketers had
the perfect cure for thatThey'd tie a piece of pork fat
to a string and the seasicksailor would swallow it, and
then they'd yank that shit backout again.
(12:28):
And if you still felt sickafter that, they'd do it again
till your symptoms went away.
Yeah, nope, I'd be good at justwatching it happen to someone
else, cause.
Well, fuck that.
And on top of most of thembeing seasick, they'd all have
to take turns watching forwhales, which meant climbing to
the top of the main mast,clinging to it as the boat
(12:50):
pitched and rocked in the seaand looked for whales.
And good luck not puking,because you know that mast was
just swaying all over the damnplace and being a lookout wasn't
like in the cartoons, where yougot a nice little spot up there
.
Oh no, that'd be way too nice.
If you were lucky, you had acouple iron hoops to hold on to.
(13:11):
Now that they were at sea, theywere making their way to Cape
Horn and since it's basically alarge sailboat, they couldn't
take a direct path.
They were at the mercy of thewinds.
They sailed towards Europe andAfrica, before catching the
winds that would take them south, to South America and Cape Horn
.
On their way to the coast, theyhad a couple stops planned
(13:33):
where they could buy vegetablesand livestock cheaper than what
was available at home.
They were making good timeheading to their first stop in
the Azores.
Every sail they had was set andthey were hitting a whopping
six knots, which was unfortunatetheir third day at sea and the
weather was starting to take ashift.
(13:53):
The sea started getting rocky asthey sailed through the night.
The morning brought a steadyrain with it.
Some of the sails were taken in, but not enough.
They miscalculated the severityof the storm clouds brewing on
the horizon as they sailedtowards them.
By the time they realized theirmistake, with lightning
streaking across the sky, it wasmuch too late.
(14:15):
They tried to turn from thestorm but the Essex was way too
slow.
The wind slammed broadside intothe ship.
The ghastly sound of the windripping through the rigging and
tearing at the sails unnervedthe new sailors.
The wind pushed and pushedagainst the side of the ship.
(14:38):
The ship's keel and ballast,weighing the ship down at first,
refused to bow to the pressure,eventually relented.
The ship was tilting in thewind.
The mast with all those sailsstill set worked against the
ship and dragged her over.
The Essex was flipped nearly 90degrees on her side as she
(15:00):
floundered in the storm.
The crew clung desperately toanything they could reach to
stop from being pulled into thesea.
Cargo in the holds was knockedabout as men dodged the flying
debris inside the ship.
Two of the whale boats on theport side were smashed beneath
the sea.
The cookhouse was smashed bythe heavy stone and cookware and
(15:21):
damn near tore from the ship.
With the hull blocking the wind, there was a moment of calm on
the deck.
Pollard seized the opportunityto assert command and issue
orders to get the crew moving.
They had to get the ship toright itself before it dipped
too far into the ocean.
They tried to run as much saildown as possible, but things
(15:43):
just weren't working right.
The order to break out the axesand cut the mast loose was
about to be given, as they feltthe ship start to shift again.
The blast in the hold hadreasserted itself and the ship
began to right itself, but theyweren't out of danger yet.
They were now pointed into thewind.
(16:03):
The wind was no longer a squallbut was pushing hard into the
sails.
The whale boat at the rear ofthe ship took a beating as the
Essex was pushed backwards.
The masts howled and groaned asthey were pushed in ways not
(16:25):
designed to go.
The possibility of losing allthree masts was real if they
decided to come down.
The ship eventually turnedenough to fill the sails and
send them in the right direction.
The Essex, however, had sufferedsevere damage from the storm.
The cookhouse was gone.
Most of its main sails wereripped and useless.
(16:46):
The two port side whale boats,along with all the gear, was
smashed and washed away.
The stern whale boat wascrushed, but with a lot of work
fixable.
However, this would leave themwith only three boats.
A normal whale ship used threeboats with two spares, so not a
good position for the crew to bein.
(17:07):
After a discussion between theofficers, the decision was made
to continue on to their firstprovisioning stop in Azores
rather than returning toNantucket for repairs.
They figured they could pick upa few spare whale boats at the
port.
Plus, there was the fear, ifthey returned to Nantucket, that
many of the crew would abandonship and not return, and many of
(17:30):
them probably would have Morethan just a few regretted their
decision to go on the voyage asthey repaired the ship and
sailed on.
Before reaching Azores they ranacross the beached whale ship
that had hit some rocks offshoreand beached the ship before it
could be sunk.
The Essex managed to buy thelone whale boat they had left
(17:52):
and it was an old, leaky pieceof shit, but at least it was
better than nothing.
Afterwards they made it to theharbor at Azores and traded a
barrel and a half of beans for30 skinny ass pigs.
So the deck of the Essex wasfilled with the sounds of these
squealing pigs and smelling likepig shit, and I bet the smell
(18:12):
went real well with anyone stillseasick.
After leaving and passing theequator, the Essex finally found
what they came out for.
The lookouts gave a shout ofDar, she blows the signal a
whale spout had been spotted.
Finally, after three months ofnot seeing anything, a whale had
(18:35):
been spotted and with that theorders were shouted and the
whale boats were prepped.
Harpoons were sharpened onelast time as tons of harpoon
lines were loaded.
Now they waited.
Once the ship was within a mileof the whale it was brought to
a standstill.
The whale boats were lowered asthe crews manned them.
(18:55):
The Essex would be left with acrew of three as the whale boats
went after their prey.
With the whale boats in thewater, the competition began.
The first to get to the whalewould get bragging rights and
determine who was the bettercrew.
They gave it their all as theyrowed and bore down on their
unsuspecting prey, with thecaptain or mate encouraging
(19:17):
their men on faster and fasterthey pushed forward.
In the end it would be firstmate Owens Chase's boat that got
there first.
They were now within feet ofthe whale, perfect for the
harpoon.
Now it's up to Benjamin Lawrence, a novice harpooner who just
spent a mile rowing hard toharpoon the giant whale.
(19:38):
He braced himself for the throw, terror filling him as he eyed
the whale and Chase urged him on.
But before he could lift andthrow the.
The boat cracked and splintered, sending the crew flying.
A second whale had came upbeneath them and, with a flick
(20:00):
of its massive tail, sent thewhale boat airborne.
Its entire side caved in.
The whale quickly disappeared.
As the crew clung to thewreckage, most of them didn't
know how to swim.
Most sailors at the time neverlearned.
The other two crews had toabandon the hunt and rescue
Chase's crew, and it would takeseveral days for his smashed
(20:23):
whale boat to be repaired.
Just in time for more whales tobe spotted.
And this time Chase's crewwould succeed.
A harpoon was hurled andslammed into the side of the
whale, securing the tiny whaleboat to the massive creature.
The harpoon does not kill thewhale.
Instead, it sends it into afrenzy.
The whale drags the boat alongfor miles, getting up to speeds
(20:47):
of 15 to 20 knots, bouncing andbanging the boat around the
entire time.
Once it starts to tire itselfout, the crew pulls on the
harpoon line, pulling them inchby inch to the massive beast.
Once near it, chase makes hisway to the front of the boat,
taking out the 12-foot longkilling lance, using its
(21:07):
sharpened end to pierce thewhale over and over the water
surrounding the boat runs red asthe whale is pierced.
Jay stabs and wiggles the lancein the beast as he searches for
the coil of arteries near thelungs.
Once he hits the mark, thewhale starts to choke on its own
blood, spouting a 15-footgeyser of blood and gore into
(21:28):
the air.
With the whale drowning in gore, the blood-covered crew quickly
back the boat away.
In its death throes the whalebeats at the water with its tail
, sniffing its jaws in the airas it vomits undigested fish and
squid.
And then it just stops.
The whale falls motionless,floating belly up in a pool of
(21:49):
its own blood and vomit.
Now the hard work begins.
They head to tow the whale headfirst back to the Essex.
With the weight of the whalethey were lucky to go one mile
an hour.
It would be after dark beforethey'd make it back to the Essex
.
And once at the Essex thebutchery began.
(22:10):
The whale is secured to the sideof the ship and the cutting
plank is lowered.
The crew hacks a hole into itsside above the fin and sets a
giant hook into it.
The hook is attached to ablocking tackle system on the
ship, attached to the windlass.
The ship creaks with the strain.
As the hook is pulled up, thecrew continues to cut the start
(22:31):
of a 5 foot wide strip into thewhale's side.
The hook continues its pullupwards, ripping a 20-foot long
strip from the whale.
It's hoisted up into the shipand dropped into the blubber
room where it's chopped up intosmaller pieces.
The crew continues until all theblubber has been removed from
the whale and once it'scompletely stripped, its massive
(22:54):
head is cut off.
The head of the whale is nearlya third of its length and once
it's hoisted on deck they cut ahole into a cavity in the skull.
The cavity can hold almost 500gallons of spermaceti.
They use buckets to get as muchof the sought-after oil.
The deck of the Essex iscovered in spilled oil and blood
(23:14):
as they work.
After stripping the whale, theydig in its intestines for
ambergris, a fatty substanceused in perfumes and is rather
expensive.
Finding this would be a nicebonus for the crew.
And once they were donestripping and mutilating the
corpse, they cut it free andjust dumped it in the ocean With
(23:35):
the blubber.
Now in the blubber room, theystarted trying out the whale.
They had to cut the tough,thick blubber into smaller
pieces and place them in largetripods to boil the blubber down
into the precious oil.
The blood stained and oilslickened deck is filled with
thick black smoke as the firesrage during the boiling process.
(23:57):
For three days the fires burnas cask after cask is filled
with the boiled down oil, thecrew takes on a demonic
appearance red-rimmed eyes fromthe smoke and covered in blood
and oil.
The experienced sailors worethe same clothes until the
trying out process was over.
Some of the new sailors,disgusted by the blood and oil,
(24:20):
chose to change clothes andquickly destroyed every stitch
of clothing they had, whichforced them to buy new clothes
from the ship's slop chest atextremely marked up prices.
Of course, the slop chest wasthe maritime equivalent of a
company store, so this would endup costing them nearly
everything they wouldpotentially earn.
(24:42):
On the voyage Nearing Cape Horn.
They had now been at sea forfour months with only the single
whale to show for it.
The fear of the voyage wouldtake much longer than two years
increased the tension among thecrew, along with food being
another major point ofdiscontent among the men, while
the officers got to sit at atable with plates and silverware
(25:04):
and enjoy all the vegetablesand salt pork when fresh meat
wasn't available they could eat.
The rest of the crew weren't solucky.
Down in steerage in Forecastlethey sat around a large wooden
tub on their sea chest.
Inside the tub was a salty asshunk of meat.
They had been sitting inseawater for a day to make it
(25:25):
soft enough to chew.
And for utensils they usedwhatever knife they had and a
spoon, along with a tin cup forcoffee or tea.
And instead of vegetables andfresh bread they had hardtack
that hard as a rock biscuit.
They usually needed to besoaked in water to soften it up.
And when the men dared tocomplain about their food,
(25:47):
captain Pollard tore them a newone.
Threats of flogging and muchworse were made.
The captain had shown hisbackbone and there would be no
further complaints aboutprovisions, provisions.
(26:10):
It would be several more monthsof no whales as they rounded
Cape Horn and hit the ocean offthe coast of Peru.
Here they would be fairlysuccessful, bringing in 450
barrels of oil in just twomonths.
They were hitting an exhaustingpace of a whale every five days
.
But the weather didn't helptheir efforts one bit.
With harsh winds and rough seas.
They fought the ocean as muchas the whales.
(26:31):
They hunted the rapid pace ofthe hunt helped to turn the
green whale men into experiencedones.
They became desensitized totheir grisly work and saw the
butchery as nothing more than ameans to an end, not only in
terms of money, but each cask,each drop of oil was one step
closer to what they all wantedto go home Soon they would move
(26:56):
on from Peru to an area of theocean they knew as the offshore
grounds where whales congregated.
Around November, they had justtwo more stops to make one in
South America to get freshfruits, vegetables and water.
Then it's on to the Galapagosto get some turtles, and that is
(27:19):
where we're going to call it aday.
Come back next week for morefun on the Galapagos Islands and
the cruise adventure into theoffshore grounds.
Thanks for listening and if youliked the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and follow
the show on social media atHistoryIsADisaster on Facebook,
(27:40):
instagram and a few others, andshare the episode, because
sharing is caring, and if therewas more caring in the world,
maybe history wouldn't be adisaster.
Thanks and goodbye.
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