09 - Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex by Owen Chase

Owen Chase (October 7, 1797 – March 7, 1869) served as the First Mate of the ill-fated whale ship Essex, which met a tragic fate when it was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale on October 28, 1820. In the aftermath, Chase penned the gripping account titled Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, published in 1821. This harrowing tale not only chronicles the desperate survival of the crew but also served as a profound inspiration for Herman Melvilles iconic novel, Moby-Dick. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section nine of the Shipwreck of the whale ship Essex
by Owen Chase. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Recording by Phil Schamp, Chapter three, part six January tenth
to the twenty fourth January tenth. Matthew P. Joy, the

(00:21):
second mate, had suffered from debility and the privations we
had experienced, much beyond any of the rest of us,
and was on the eighth removed to the captain's boat,
under the impression that he would be more comfortable there,
and more attention and pains be bestowed in nursing and
endeavoring to comfort him. This day, being calm, he manifested

(00:43):
a desire to be taken back again. But at four
o'clock in the afternoon, after having been, according to his wishes,
placed in his own boat, he died very suddenly. After
his removal on the eleventh, at six o'clock in the morning,
we sewed him up in his clothes, tied a large
stone to his feet, and, having brought all the boats

(01:04):
to consigned him in a solemn manner to the ocean.
This man did not die of absolute starvation, although his
end was no doubt very much hastened by his sufferings.
He had a weak and sickly constitution, and complained of
being unwell the whole voyage. It was an incident, however,
which threw a gloom over our feelings for many days.

(01:27):
In consequence of his death, one man from the captain's
boat was placed in that from which he died to
supply his place, and we stood away again on our course.
On the twelfth of January. We had the wind from
the northwest, which commenced in the morning and came on
to blow before night, a perfect gale. We were obliged

(01:47):
to take in all sail and run before the wind.
Flashes of lightning were quick and vivid, and the rain
came down in cataracts. As however, the gale blew us
fairly on our course, and our speed being great during
the day, we derived i may say, even pleasure from
the uncomfortableness and the fury of the storm. We were

(02:08):
apprehensive that in the darkness of this night we should
be separated, and made arrangements each boat to keep an
east southeast course all night. About eleven o'clock, my boat
being ahead a short distance of the others, I turned
my head back as I was in the habit of
doing every minute, and neither of the others were to

(02:28):
be seen. It was blowing and raining all this time,
as if the heavens were separating, and I knew, not
hardly at the moment what to do. I hove my
boat to the wind and lay drifting about an hour,
expecting every moment that they would come up with me,
but not seeing anything of them, I put away again

(02:48):
and stood on the course agreed upon, with strong hopes
that daylight would enable me to discover them again. When
the morning dawned, in vain did we look over every
part of the ocean for our companions. They were gone,
and we saw no more of them afterwards. It was
folly to repine at the circumstance. It could neither be remedied,

(03:09):
nor could sorrow secure their return. But it was impossible
to prevent ourselves feeling all poigncy and bitterness that characterizes
the separation of men who have long suffered in each
other's company, and whose interests and feelings fate had so
closely linked together. By our observation, we separated at latitude

(03:30):
thirty two degrees sixteen minutes south longitude one hundred and
twelve degrees twenty minutes west. For many days after this accident,
our progress was attended with dull and melancholy reflections. We
had lost the cheering of each other's faces, that which strains,
as it is, we so much required in both our

(03:52):
mental and bodily distresses. The fourteenth January proved another very
squally and rainy day. We had now been nineteen days
from the island, and had only made a distance of
about nine hundred miles. Necessity began to whisper us that
a still further reduction in our allowance must take place,
or we must abandon altogether the hopes of reaching the land,

(04:15):
and rely wholly on the chance of being taken up
by a vessel. But how to reduce the daily quantity
of food with any regard to life itself was a
question of the utmost consequence. Upon our first leaving the wreck,
the demands of the stomach had been circumscribed to the
smallest possible compass, and subsequently, before reaching the island a

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diminution had taken place of nearly one half, and it
was now, from a reasonable calculation become necessary even to
curtail that at least one half, which must in a
short time reduce us to mere skeletons. Again. We had
a full allowance of water, but it only served to
contribute to our debility, our bodies deriving but the scant

(04:59):
support which an ounce and a half of bread for
each man afforded. It required a great effort to bring
matters to this dreadful alternative, either to feed our bodies
and our hopes a little longer, or, in the agonies
of hunger, to seize upon and devour our provisions and
coolly await the approach of death. We were as yet

(05:20):
just able to move about in our boats and slowly
perform the necessary labors appertaining to her. But we were
fast wasting away with the relaxing effects of the water,
and we daily almost perish under the torrid rays of
a meridian sun. To escape which we would lie down
in the bottom of the boat, cover ourselves over with

(05:41):
the sails, and abandon her to the mercy of the waves.
Upon attempting to rise again, the blood would rush into
the head, and an intoxicating blindness come over us. Almost
to occasion our sudden falling down again. A slight interest
was still kept up in our minds by the distant
hopes of yet meeting with other boats, but it was

(06:02):
never realized. An accident occurred at night, which gave me
great cause of uneasiness and led me to an unpleasant
rumination upon the probable consequences of a reputation of it.
I had laid down in the boat without taking the
usual precaution of securing the lid of the provisioned chest,
as I was accustomed to do, when one of the

(06:23):
white men awoke me and informed me that one of
the blacks had taken some bread from it. I felt
at the moment the highest indignation and resentment at such
conduct in any of our crew, and immediately took my
pistol in my hand and charged him, if he had
taken any to give it up without the least hesitation,
or I should instantly shoot him. He became at once

(06:46):
very much alarmed and trembling, confessed the fact, pleading the
hard necessity that urged him to it. He appeared to
be very penitent for his crime, and earnestly swore that
he would never be guilty of it again. I could
not find it in my soul to extend towards him
the least severity on this account, however, much according to

(07:07):
the strict imposition which we felt upon ourselves, it might
demand it. This was the first infraction, and the security
of our lives, our hopes of redemption from our sufferings
loudly called for a prompt and signal punishment. But every
humane feeling of nature pleaded in his behalf, and he
was permitted to escape, with the solemn injunction that a

(07:29):
repetition of the same offense would cost him his life.
I had almost determined upon this occurrence to divide our
provisions and give to each man his share of the
whole stock, and should have done so in the height
of my resentment, had it not been for the reflection
that some might, by imprudence, be tempted to go beyond
the daily allowance, or consume it all at once, and

(07:52):
bring on a premature weakness or starvation. This would, of
course disable them for the duties of the boat, and
reduce our chances of safety and deliverance. On the fifteenth
of January, at night, a very large shark was observed
swimming about us in a most ravenous manner, making attempts
every now and then upon different parts of the boat.

(08:14):
As if he would devour the very wood with hunger.
He came several times and snapped at the steering oar
and even the stern post. We tried in vain to
stab him with a lance, but we were so weak
as not to be able to make any impression upon
his hard skin. He was so much larger than the
ordinary one, and manifested such a fearless malignity as to

(08:36):
make us afraid of him, and our utmost efforts, which
were at first directed to kill him for prey, became
in the end self defense. Baffled. However, in all his
hungry attempts upon us, he sharply made off. On the
sixteenth of January, we were surrounded with porpoises in great
numbers that followed us nearly an hour, and which also

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defied all maneuvers to catch them. The seventeenth and eighteenth
proved to be calm, and the distresses of a cheerless
prospect and a burning hot sun were again visited upon
our devoted heads. We began to think that divine Providence
had abandoned us at last, and it was but an
unavailing effort to endeavor to prolong a now tedious existence.

(09:21):
Horrible were the feelings that took possession of us. The
contemplation of a death of agony and torment, refined by
the most dreadful and distressing reflections, absolutely prostrated both body
and soul. There was not a hope now remaining to us,
but that which was derived from a sense of the
mercies of our creator. The night of the eighteenth was

(09:43):
a despairing era in our sufferings. Our minds were wrought
up to the highest pitch of dread and apprehension for
our fate, and all in them was dark, gloomy, and confused.
About eight o'clock, the terrible noise of whale spouts near
us sounded in our ears. We could distinctly hear the
furious thrashing of their tails in the water, and our

(10:05):
weak minds pictured out their appalling and hideous aspects. One
of my companions, the Black Man, took an immediate fright
and solicited me to take out the oars and endeavored
to get away from them. I consented to his using
any means for that purpose, but alas it was wholly
out of our power to raise a single arm in
our own defense, two or three of the whales came

(10:28):
down near us and went swiftly off across our stern,
blowing and spouting at a terrible rate. They, however, after
an hour or two, disappeared and we saw no more
of them. The next day, the nineteenth of January, we
had extremely boisterous weather, with rain, heavy thunder and lightning,
which reduced us again to the necessity of taking in

(10:51):
all sail and lying too. The wind blew from every
point of the compass within the twenty four hours, and
at last towards the next morning settled at east northeast
a strong breeze. January twenty the black man, Richard Peterson
manifested to day symptoms of a speedy dissolution. He had

(11:12):
been lying between the seats in the boat, utterly dispirited
and broken down, without being able to do the least duty,
or hardly to place his hand to his head, for
the last three days, and had this morning made up
his mind to die rather than endure further misery. He
refused his allowance, said he was sensible of his approaching

(11:32):
end and was perfectly ready to die. In a few minutes,
he became speechless, the breath appeared to be leaving his body,
without producing the least pain, and at four o'clock he
was gone. I had two days previously conversations with him
on the subject of religion, on which he reasoned very
sensibly and with much composure, and begged me to let

(11:55):
his wife know his fate if ever I reached home
in safety. The next morning, we committed him to the
sea in latitude thirty five degrees seven minutes south longitude
one hundred and five degrees forty six minutes west. The
wind prevailed to the eastward until the twenty fourth of January,
when it again fell calm. We were now in a

(12:18):
most wretched and sinking state of debility, hardly able to
crawl around the boat, and possessing but strength enough to
convey our scanty morsels to our mouths. When I perceived
this morning that it was calm, my fortitude almost forsook me.
I thought to suffer another scorching day like the last
we had experienced, would close before night the scene of

(12:40):
our miseries, and I felt many a despairing moment that
day that had well nigh proved fatal. It required an
effort to look calmly forward and contemplate what was yet
in store for us beyond what I felt I was
capable of making, and what it was that buoyed me
above all terrors which surrounded us. God alone knows our ounce.

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And a half of bread, which was to serve us
all day, was in some cases greedily devoured, as if
life was to continue but another moment, And at other
times it was hoarded up and eaten crumb by crumb
at regular intervals during the day, as if it was
to last us forever. To add to our calamities, biles

(13:23):
began to break out upon us, and our imaginations shortly
became as diseased as our bodies. I laid down at
night to catch a few moments of oblivious sleep, and
immediately my starving fancy was at work. I dreamt of
being placed near a splendid and rich repast, where there
was everything that the most dainty appetite could desire, and

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of contemplating the moment in which we were to commence
to eat with enraptured feelings of delight. And just as
I was about to partake of it, I suddenly awoke
to the cold realities of my miserable situation. Nothing have
oppressed me so much it set such a longing frenzy
for victuals in my mind that I felt as if

(14:06):
I could have wished the dream to continue forever, that
I never might have awoke from it. I cast a
sort of vacant stare about the boat until my eyes
rested upon a bit of tough cowhide which was fastened
to one of the oars. I eagerly seized and commenced
to chew it. But there was no substance in it,
and it only served to fatigue my weak jaws and

(14:29):
add to my bodily pains. My fellow sufferers murmured very
much the whole time, and continued to press me continually
with questions upon the probability of our reaching land again.
I kept constantly rallying my spirits to enable me to
afford them comfort. I encouraged them to bear up against

(14:49):
all evils, and if we must perish, to die in
our own cause, and not weakly distrust the providence of
the Almighty by giving ourselves up to despair, I reasoned
with them and told them that we would not die
sooner by keeping up our hopes. That the dreadful sacrifices
and privations we endured were to preserve us from death,

(15:10):
and were not to be put in competition with the
price which we set upon our lives and their values
to our families. It was besides unmanly to repine at
what neither admitted of alleviation nor cure, and withal it
was our solemn duty to recognize in our calamities and
overruling divinity at whose mercy we might be suddenly snatched

(15:33):
from peril, and to rely upon him alone who tampers
the wind to the shorn lamb end of Section nine