The Sinking of the Essex Part 3: Heartbreaks & Bellyaches

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The final chapter of the Essex tragedy unfolds as a haunting testament to human survival instinct pushed beyond moral boundaries. After spotting land, the starved crew members experience a fleeting moment of hope—only to discover Henderson Island offers little salvation. Despite its lush appearance, fresh water remains scarce, forcing these desperate men to make an impossible choice: continue the journey or remain stranded.

When tragedy forces them back to sea, nature's cruelty intensifies. Separated by a violent storm, the three whale boats drift apart, each crew now isolated in their private nightmare. As rations disappear completely, these ordinary sailors confront the unthinkable—consuming the flesh of their dead companions. First, they use those who die naturally, but eventually, on Captain Pollard's boat, they resort to drawing lots to determine who would be sacrificed so others might survive.

The racial dynamics add another disturbing dimension, as all four Black sailors perish and are consumed before most white crew members. After 89 days adrift, rescue finally comes—first for Owen Chase's boat, then for Captain Pollard and his lone remaining companion, found sucking marrow from human bones. Meanwhile, the three men who chose to remain on Henderson Island survive against all odds until their eventual rescue.

What happens after survival proves equally compelling. Captain Pollard, once a respected commander, ends his days as a night watchman after losing a second ship. Owen Chase writes a successful account of the disaster and returns to a prosperous whaling career. Some find meaning through religion, others through continuing their maritime lives. But all carry the weight of what they did to survive, their stories serving as a chilling reminder of what happens when civilization's veneer cracks under the pressure of pure survival.

What moral compromises would you make to stay alive? Follow History's A Disaster for more stories that challenge our understanding of human nature under extreme conditions.

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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/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
With land now in sight, the crew of the Essex was
hopeful.
Land meant possible salvationin the form of food and water, A
chance to resupply beforecontinuing on to the coast of
South America.
They just needed to stop andsee.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this isHistory's A Disaster.

(00:23):
I'm Andrew and this isHistory's A Disaster.
Welcome back to the final partof the Essex Tragedy.
Tonight we're finally going tofinish the story, so let's get
into it.
But first, tonight's episodehas a special sponsor the Long

(00:44):
Pig Sausage Company.
And if you use code it's notpork at checkout you'll get 50%
off your first order of NewEngland sailor, I mean New
England sausage.
And with that let's get into it.
The starved and thirsty crew ofChase's boat stared at the

(01:04):
island, blinded by the blazingsun.
They squinted and watched Somefearful.
It was just a mirage, but soonrealized it was real enough.
Being in the lead boat, theywere the first to see it.
They could tell when the otherboat saw it too, as their cheers
of joy spread through the air.
Boats saw it too, as theircheers of joy spread through the

(01:28):
air.
They were soon within a quartermile of the island and getting
their first clear view of it.
At first it was mostly rocks,with large 30-foot cliffs
running along the shore, but asthey drew closer they could see
past the rocks to the flat greeninterior just lush with
vegetation.
The hope for plenty of freshwater grew at the sight of all

(01:50):
that greenery.
After consulting their previouslocation findings and the
Bouditch's navigator, theyconcluded they were at the Duchi
Islands, which meant they hadtraveled over 1,500 miles and
were further from the coast thanwhen they started.
In their present condition theywere a bit fearful of running

(02:12):
into natives, so they circledthe six-mile-long by
three-mile-wide island,occasionally firing a pistol
into the woods to get a responsefrom anyone on the island.
They got no response.
Still fearing a possible ambush, chase led an advance party
onto the shore of the largestbeach on the north end of the

(02:34):
island.
The others would wait offshorejust in case there was trouble.
Chase took the musket and twomen ashore.
Their exhaustion made them stopon the beach for a few minutes
to catch their breath afterhaving to wade ashore.
After a few minutes rest, theywatched birds fly around them,
unconcerned by their presence.

(02:55):
They had found a food source,but what they desperately needed
now was fresh water.
They split up and made theirway slowly down the beach in
different directions.
Chase managed to snag a fish ina nearby stream.
As he dragged it ashore, he wasquickly rejoined by the other
two.
They devoured the fish, bones,scales and, all Emboldened by

(03:18):
the fresh food, they made theirway to the cliffs, the most
likely spot to find fresh water.
However, the cliffs were crackedand dry coral.
None of the vines were strongenough to support their weight,
so they grabbed the sharp coraland attempted.
It Bruised and cut up.
They couldn't manage the climb.
They were far too weak.

(03:39):
They were getting worried theywould find no fresh water here
and spending too much time herewithout it would be a death
sentence.
Returning to the beach, one ofthe men made a promising
discovery A small trickle offresh water coming from a rock.

(04:00):
It wasn't much, just enough towet their lips, but it was
promising.
With a possible water sourcefound, the decision was made to
spend at least one night on theisland.
The boats were brought in anddragged onto the beach and
flipped upside down to form somekind of shelter.
Fish and crabs were collectedand they sat back, tired and

(04:23):
exhausted, to enjoy their feast.
Sleep came quickly for the crew, but the morning came even
quicker, and with it the painsof thirst and hunger.
Severe dehydration had robbedthem of the ability to speak.
They dragged their weary bonesacross the beach and rocks.
Birds were easily caught andgrass was chewed to get some

(04:47):
kind of moisture, but to noavail.
No water was yet to be found.
Since most of the men had noshoes, most of the island was
inaccessible.
The sharp coral and rocks madeexploration outside of the beach
nearly impossible.
When they returned, dejectedback to their little camp, they

(05:09):
found Captain Pollard, andSteward William Bond had
prepared a small feast of birdsand crabs for the men.
Pollard was making everyattempt to keep the crew's
spirits up and the food hadhelped to bring them together
again.
Little did they know at thetime they were mistaken where
they were.

(05:29):
They were not on Ducey Island.
They were 70 miles west of it,on Henderson Island, and just
400 miles to the southwest wasPitcairn Island, an island that
had a thriving community thatwould have been able to help
them with all the food and drinkthey needed.
But since they weren't takinglongitudinal readings, they had

(05:53):
no idea how close they were tosalvation.
Nor were they aware theyweren't the first to be lured
into Henderson.
A small cave on the island heldeight skeletons that would be
discovered much later, mostlikely another unlucky group of
shipwreck survivors who washedup on Henderson and eventually

(06:14):
died of dehydration.
While they were on Hendersonthey did manage to find a small
spring bubbling up from a rockon the beach Fresh, cool water.
They drank their fill andattempted to fill kegs of water
for the trip.
However, they only had time tofill two small kegs.

(06:37):
This spring was only availablefor a very short amount of time,
during the lowest tide Anyother time, and it was swallowed
beneath the sea.
With this discovery, theytalked about remaining on the
island for a few days.
Over dinner the plan was torepair their boats and get their

(06:57):
strength up with the food andwater they'd believed would be
readily available.
The next morning they were ableto catch 20 gallons of fresh
water from the spring.
When not filling kegs of water,their days were spent hunting
for food.
Evenings were the best.
The tropical birds that calledthe island home were easy to

(07:17):
sneak up on and smack with astick when they were feeding
their young.
But this would not last.
In just five days, the 20 menof the Essex had ransacked the
island, eating everything insight and scaring the birds from
returning.
The only thing left to them wasgrass.
And well, that's just gross.

(07:40):
By day seven, over a month,since the Essex had been
attacked, they made to leave theisland behind.
The whale boats were fixed upas best they could be with the
limited supply of nails they had.
They were roughly 3,000 milesfrom Chile, twice the distance
they had already sailed, pouringover their copies of

(08:01):
Bounditch's Navigator.
They seen Easter Island wasmuch closer, roughly a thousand
miles away.
They knew next to nothing aboutthe island but saw it as
preferable than staying longeron the whale boats.
As Pollard gathered the crew andexplained what they were going
to do, three men stepped forwardto do.

(08:23):
Three men stepped forward.
Thomas Chappell, our littlefirebug from the Galapagos,
along with two teenagers, sethWeeks and William Wright,
announced their intentions tostay behind.
They just did not want to getback on those little ass boats.
Chapp Chapel reasoned that Joywas sick and not long for this

(08:46):
world.
While everyone else hadregained some weight and looked
healthier since arriving onHenderson Matthew, joy looked
much worse.
If Joy died, command of thewhale boat would fall to Chapel.
That was something heabsolutely did not want.
He did not want theresponsibility of those men's

(09:06):
lives.
Them staying behind would workout better for everyone.
They left their shares ofrations on the boats, so the
boats would not only have lessof a load to carry.
Each man would have a littlebit more rations Not much, but
some Some of them thought thethree men left behind would have

(09:28):
a better chance at survivalthan they had of making the
mainland.
After some reluctant farewells,the three turned to work on
building a small crude shelterout of tree branches.
Before leaving the islandbehind them, they circled around
to another beach to try to dosome fishing and catch some
birds for the voyage.
After catching a few andloading up, they were ready to

(09:51):
go.
They had more fresh water thanbefore, extra food and their
boats didn't leak anymore, withstones taken from the island.
They also had small cookingfires set for the fish and birds
.
They were as comfortable asthey were going to get.
Now they just needed to saileast for Easter Island and some

(10:13):
luck came their way when windsout of the northwest pushed them
in the right direction.
Their luck would only hold forthree days, however, as the wind
shifted again and they were nowbeing pushed to the south of
Easter Island, which lasted fora few days, before shifting to
send them the right way.
The right way was also rightinto some nasty weather that

(10:38):
threatened to fill their boatswith water, the wind was just
not cooperating and they soonfound themselves too far south
to make Easter Island.
Their next hope was someislands off the coast of Chile.
However, they were over 2,500miles from them, farther than
what they had already sailed ina month and a half, and since

(11:00):
they had finished off all thebirds and fish, they were back
to a diet of nothing buthardtack, and then the wind died
completely.
They were trapped helplesslybeneath a blazing sun.

(11:20):
Matthew Joy was only gettingworse and on January 10th he
died.
His body was sewn into hisclothes and a rock was tied to
his feet before he was consignedto a watery grave.
Before he was consigned to awatery grave, obed Hendrix was
moved from Pollard's boat totake over command on Joy's boat
and soon discovered that, in hisillness, joy didn't keep up

(11:44):
with rationing.
There was only two, maybe threedays of hardtack left aboard.
The following few days led toworsening weather, and on the
night that it turned into afull-blown storm.
The three boats would becomeseparated.
The next day, chase's crewsearched the water, but to no

(12:04):
avail.
Neither boat could be seen 600miles south of Easter Island and
another thousand to go andChase and his crew were
completely alone and thehardtack was getting dangerously
low.
Chase was now faced with thedifficult decision to cut the
rations again down to an ounceand a half a day.

(12:27):
This was not an easy decisionto make.
Somewhere to the north of them,the other two boats were faced
with a similar problem.
Hendrick's boat was completelyout of food, and the only
question now was whether or notPollard would share his own

(12:49):
rations.
He would, but that would nowleave them in a serious problem.
In a few days, when he too ranout, they would also face
another serious problem.
The wind died again, leavingthem stranded, and to add to
this, they were now getting hitwith diarrhea, a symptom of
starvation.
They were also severelyweakened and unable to do

(13:13):
anything.
Around the boat.
Blackouts from moving too fastwere common as they struggled to
stand up.
That night as Chase suffered,one of the crew, richard
Peterson, attempted to stealsome bread.
When confronted and threatenedwith death, he confessed and
Chase granted him mercy butthreatened to kill the next man

(13:35):
who stole.
The winds picked up again andtension aboard Chase's boat
eased up a little until a sharkdecided to try to make a stack
out of the boat.
The large shark snapped and bitat the boat, tempting to tear
it apart.
Chase grabbed the lance fromthe bottom of the boat and

(13:57):
stabbed at the boat, tempting totear it apart.
Chase grabbed the lance fromthe bottom of the boat and
stabbed at the shark, but thelack of food and water had
weakened him to the point hedidn't have the strength to
pierce through the shark's toughexterior.
There was nothing any of themcould do to frighten the shark
off.
It would eventually get boredwith slapping at the sides of
the boat and swim off.
The following day dolphinsreplaced the shark, jumping and

(14:18):
playing around the boat.
They tried again with the lanceto kill one, but just as with
the shark, they lacked thestrength to pierce one.
The dolphins would swim andjump playfully away from the
boat, mocking the men in theirglee.
For the next two days the winddied and they were left at a
standstill Sixty days since theEssex was sunk.

(14:42):
They contemplated their deaths,how and when it would come.
On the night of the second day,with no wind, the sperm whales
came out to play.
The crew was terrified.
Surely they had come out tofinish what the other had
started when it sunk the Essex.
But the men made it through thelong, terrifying night

(15:02):
unscathed.
The following morning the windfinally picked back up, the sea
pitched and rolled as lightningflashed across the sky, rain
filled the air and the boat wastossed about the waves.
Before things finally settleddown After a storm battered day

(15:26):
at sea, the wind calmed the nextday.
During the handing out ofrations, richard Peterson
refused his.
He announced it was his timeand the food may do someone else
some good.
That afternoon, after losingthe ability to speak, peterson
slipped away and his body wasconsigned to the oceans like

(15:47):
joys before him.
On that same day, on Pollard'sand Henderson's boats, their
food was almost gone.
Less than a pound of hardtackwas left to split between 10 men
.
And when Lawson Thomas, one ofthe black sailors, passed, they
all had the same unspeakablethought All they had to do was
butcher the body.

(16:08):
Most likely the head, hands,feet and skin would have been
removed and dumped in the ocean.
As is typical in mostsituations of forced cannibalism
, the most obvious signs ofhumanity are removed and
disposed of before the body isstripped of meat for food.
Afterwards, a fire was lit onthe stones and the organs and

(16:33):
meat were roasted before theybegan to dig into their former
crewmate.
As they ate, their hunger wasnot sated, they just got
hungrier.
The average adult male shouldprovide around 66 pounds of meat
.
However, after two months ofbeing starved and dehydrated,

(16:53):
they may have gotten only asmuch as 30 pounds from his
emaciated body.
With the heart attack gone,though, anything was better than
nothing.
The lack of a better dietprovided to the Black Sailors
and having less body fat thantheir white counterparts would
soon come to haunt the BlackSailors.
Two days after Thomas' death,charles Shorter passed away and

(17:18):
was quickly butchered and eaten.
A hundred miles south of them,chase's crew was trapped on the
windless sea.
Their scant diet of an ounceand a half of hardtack had left
them with barely the strength tomove about.
Their skin was breaking outwith boils.
They were growing despondentand leaning heavily on Chase to

(17:39):
lift their spirits.
Recognizing their need for hope, chase was becoming a changed
man.
No longer acting as a strictdisciplinarian, he spoke with
his crew more gently, offeringhope for salvation when he could
.
For three days the wind pickedup, driving them further and
further south.

(17:59):
During a noon reading of theirlocation, chase learned they had
traveled 600 miles due south ofHenderson Island and were 1,800
miles west of Chile.
The sun gave way to a terriblycold rain.
With their starvation-wrackedbodies already losing too much
heat, they were soon at a realrisk of suffering from

(18:22):
hypothermia.
As they headed further awayfrom the equator, they had to
turn back north, towards theequator and warmer weather, and
in their weakened condition ittook them much longer to get the
boat turned.
But they eventually got thereand the boat was heading back

(18:43):
straight north, travelingparallel to Chile.
So they would get no closer,but at least there was less of a
chance of hypothermia.
Back in Hendrick's boat, isaiahShepard would be the third black
sailor to die and be eatenwithin seven days.
Samuel Reed in Pollard's boatwould die the next day and be

(19:04):
eaten, leaving the stewardWilliam Bond as the last
surviving black sailor.
The men in Hendrick's andPollard's boats were being
driven feral by their insatiablehunger and not knowing who
would be the next to die.
Within feral communities likethis, it is common that
subgroups can form, and it isworth mentioning that within

(19:27):
Nantucketer's already clannishnature, that it is very possible
that the black sailors were notfed at all, thus hastening
their deaths, if not outrightmurdered for food, since none
would survive.
There would be no accounts fromthe black sailors on what
happened.
The day after Reed's death, thenight turned dark and the two

(19:49):
boats became separated.
Pollard and his men were tooweak to make any attempt to find
them, so they found themselvescompletely alone for the first
time since the Essex sank 1500miles from shore and with only
the half-eaten body of SamuelReed for food.
But still they were way betteroff than the men on the

(20:12):
now-missing boat.
Hendricks had no compass normeans of navigating the sea.
They were completely lost andwould never be heard from again.
A week after the separation, andwith food now totally gone, the
youngest of the four remainingcrew members spoke.

(20:33):
The unspeakable Lots should bedrawn to see who would die so
the others could live.
When Charles Ramsdale firstproposed it, pollard resisted.
This was not a decision thatcould be taken lightly, but he
eventually relented to his crew.
A scrap of paper was cut up andplaced in a hat.

(20:54):
Owen Coffin was the unluckywinner of the lottery.
Pollard offered to take hisyoung cousin's place, but Coffin
was resigned to his fate.
Charles Ramsdale drew the nextlot that determined who would
kill Coffin.
He initially refused, despitethis being his idea, but after a

(21:15):
few moments were given, coffinwas executed and butchered.
Far to the south, chase's crewwas dealing with cold rain and a
light breeze.
They had 14 days of hardtackleft and too far to go with so
little food.
The only real hope they had wasto be found by a ship.

(21:35):
They were weak, barely able tomove about.
The boat.
Reduced rations were slowlykilling them.
Chase made the decision to eatwhat they could to stave off
impending death from starvationand hoped that the winds would
take them to safety.
It didn't help much but tobring back the pains of hunger.

(21:56):
During one long night, isaacCole fell into a deep depression
.
He had given up completely.
After being talked out of it byChase and Nickerson, he was a
little better.
But by the next day things gotworse.
Spasms and twitching rockedCole's body.
He could barely speak.
They did what they could forhim but he would not survive.

(22:19):
The afternoon they wrestledwith what to do with Cole's body
throughout the night.
No one wanted to say it.
But the next day, chase saidwhat they'd all been thinking.
With very little heart attackleft and starvation ravaging the
crew, they butchered the body,consigning part of it to the sea

(22:39):
, and the rest was roasted overa fire or left to dry in the sun
.
The flesh left out to drystarted to turn rancid during
the night, so it was cooked andeaten the next day In Pollard's
boat.
Five days after Coffin wasexecuted, barzilla Ray died,
leaving Pollard and Ramsdale theonly surviving members of the

(23:03):
crew.
They were left with Ray'scorpse and the bones of Coffin
and Reed for food.
It would have to be enough tosee them through.
Chase and his surviving crew,benjamin Lawrence and Thomas
Nickerson, after having eatenthe last of coal and increased
rations of hardtack, werefeeling stronger.
They could once again manage tosteer the boat despite their

(23:27):
severe pains.
They could once again manage tosteer the boat despite their
severe pains.
On top of the boils all overtheir skin, their arms and legs
were swelling from edema, asymptom of dehydration.
They were now within 300 milesof Massafuera Island, a mere
five day sail, but they weredown to three days worth of
heart attack.
The fear of dying so close torescue, ran through their minds.

(23:51):
Chase tried to keep theirspirits up, with land soon being
spotted.
They just had to hold out fortwo more days.
They wouldn't need those twodays.
Within a day a sail was spottedand they made their way to
intercept the large ship as itpassed by.
Eventually, the merchant shipthe Indian out of London saw

(24:17):
them and made towards the lostlittle whale boat.
When they got alongside them,chase and his crew were too weak
to climb aboard.
They were a horrible sight forthe sailors aboard the Indian.
They were little more thanliving skeletons with loose
hanging skin and wide dark eyesin their skeletal faces.

(24:38):
Captain William Crozier tookpity on them and his sailors
carried the men aboard.
Finally, after 89 days sincethe Essex sank, they were
rescued.
They had traveled over 2,500miles across the open ocean.
A few more days would put theIndian in the Chilean port of

(24:59):
Valparaiso, 300 miles to thesouth.
Pollard and Ramsdale sailed on.
Within five days of Chase'srescue they were approaching the
island of St Mary's off thecoast of Chile.
The last of Ray's flesh waslong gone and they resorted to

(25:20):
cracking open the bones of theirformer crew members to suck the
marrow from the bones.
They were severely weakened,often unable to lift their heads
.
As they drifted in and out ofconsciousness, they grew
delusional.
As they dreamed of better days.
They became obsessed with thebones, seeing them as gifts from
their friends.
They filled their pockets withfinger bones as they sucked the

(25:42):
marrow from the ribs as theysailed on.
And that was how the crew ofthe Dolphin found them Two
skeletons of men cowering intheir boat, sucking on the bones
they jealously guarded.
They too would have to becarried aboard the ship, too
weak to make it on their own.
The Dolphin's captain, zimriCoffin, had dinner with the

(26:03):
captain of the Diana, aaronPaddock and Pollard, who would
compulsively tell his story,sparing no detail of what
happened.
Captain Paddock later thatnight wrote down the first
official account of the wreck.
After reaching Valparaiso, chaseand his men would spend the
next few months aboard a US Navyship, the Constellation

(26:25):
recuperating.
In March they would be reunitedwith Captain Pollard.
The five survivors of the Essex, after months apart, were
finally in the same roomtogether, and while they were
being reunited, the captain ofthe Constellation was making
good on a promise made to Chase.
They made arrangements for theSurrey to set off for Duchi

(26:47):
Island.
After finding nothing, theysolved the mystery of where the
men actually were.
They arrived just as ChapelWeeks and Wright were sitting
down to a dinner of tropic birds.
Their time spent on the islandhad not been easy.
Food had started to get scarce,but the water situation was
even worse.

(27:08):
The fresh water spring thatlaid just below the low tide
never again resurfaced.
They had to watch as it bubbledjust beneath the surface.
They dug trenches and wells forgroundwater but found nothing.

(27:29):
They had to survive offwhatever rainwater they were
able to collect and drinking theblood of the birds they caught.
The Surrey would eventuallyarrive and, after some issues
getting ashore, were able torescue all three men.
Months later, another shiplanded nearby and discovered a
whale boat with four skeletonsinside.

(27:51):
It wouldn't be until 1825 thatsomeone made the connection that
this was possibly the lostwhale boat from the Essex.
Later, in the month of March,captain Pollard would be deemed,
two weeks after the ordeal, tomake the trip home.
The other four would board thewhale ship, the Eagle, and head

(28:11):
for Nantucket.
Pollard would follow two monthslater aboard the ship, the two
brothers.
Before the men could make itback to Nantucket, a letter
containing an incomplete accountof what happened reached
Nantucket ahead of them.
According to this account, whathappened reached Nantucket
ahead of them.
According to this account, mostof the crew was not expected to

(28:32):
return home.
So it was quite a shock whenfour of the crew returned,
beaten and shrunken down butalive.
Upon the return, chase wouldget to meet his 14-month-old
daughter for the first time.
Word quickly spread through townof the tragedy, but no official
records were written down.
They were waiting for Pollard'sreturn.

(28:53):
They wouldn't have long to wait.
August 5th the two brothersarrived with Captain Pollard
aboard.
1500 people came out to greethim.
The crowd was in awe and not asingle word was spoken.
As Pollard aboard, 1,500 peoplecame out to greet him.
The crowd was in awe and not asingle word was spoken as
Pollard passed through.

(29:14):
Afterwards he would be subjectedto a lengthy interview with the
owners of the Essex about whathappened and, even worse, he
would have to face his ownfamily members, specifically
Owen Coffin's mother.
To say she was a little upsetwith the man she entrusted her
son's life to would be anunderstatement.

(29:34):
They would never reconcile overwhat happened.
The town would be lessjudgmental over what happened.
In fact, pollard had impressedthe captain of the two brothers
on the voyage home so much thathe recommended Pollard for
command of the ship A ship hewould later lose off the shores
of the Hawaiian Islands whicheffectively ended his whaling

(29:58):
career.
No one would again trust himwith command of a ship, and
after one voyage on a merchantship he decided that wasn't for
him either and returned toNantucket and become a night
watchman, a position on thelowest rung of the social ladder
, but one polar took toearnestly and enjoyed.

(30:19):
Owen Chase would go on to writea book about the wreck, one that
would be the official narrativeof the events for many years,
based on his own diary entrieshe kept during the voyage, along
with a copy of the accountwritten by Aaron Paddock that
told him what happened on theother boats.
This book at the time wouldserve two purposes One to help

(30:43):
support his family financiallyand two as a sort of a resume
for a first mate who desperatelyneeded a new ship, and
obviously some things were leftout to help make him look better
, along with stuff he wasn'tpresent for which were kind of
glossed over.
He would later go on to enjoythe success that Pollard could

(31:04):
never find, but not without somepersonal tragedies of his own.
His wife would never recoverafter giving birth to their
third child, leaving Chase aloneat 27 with three kids to care
for.
He would later be remarried toMatthew Joy's widow and, after
taking time off, chase wouldsoon return to a successful

(31:26):
whaling career.
Nickerson and Ramsdale wouldboth continue on different
whaling ships.
Ramsdale would eventuallycaptain his own and Nickerson
would eventually grow tired ofwhaling and captain a merchant
ship.
Benjamin Lawrence would captaina few ships before retiring and
settling down on a farm onNantucket.

(31:48):
Seth Weeks and William Wrightwould stay on and serve on the
Surrey.
Wright would eventually be lostat sea in a hurricane in the
West Indies and Weeks wouldeventually retire in Cape Cod
where he would outlive the othersurvivors.
Thomas Chappell returned toLondon and turned religious,

(32:08):
trying to find spiritual meaningin the tragedy.
He would eventually die on theisland of Timur that was being
plagued by a fever, and that wasthe terrible tragedy of the
Essex.
Thanks for listening and if youliked the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and you can

(32:31):
reach the show athistoriesofdisaster at gmailcom
with questions, comments orsuggestions.
Follow the show on social medialike Facebook or Instagram and
share the episode, becausesharing is caring, and if there
was more caring in the world,maybe history wouldn't be a
disaster.

(32:52):
Thanks and goodbye.