In the Heart of the Sea: The Epic True Story that Inspired ‘Moby Dick’ - Tapa dura

The epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the 19th century, which was the inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.

The sinking of the whaleship Essex by an enraged spermwhale in the Pacific in November 1820 set in motion one of the most dramatic sea stories of all time: the twenty sailors who survived the wreck took to three small boats (one of which was again attacked by a whale) and only eight of them survived their subsequent 90-day ordeal, after resorting to cannibalising their mates.

Three months after the Essex was broken up, the whaleship Dauphin, cruising off the coast of South America, spotted a small boat in the open ocean. As they pulled alongside they saw piles of bones in the bottom of the boat, at least two skeletons’ worth, with two survivors – almost skeletons themselves – sucking the marrow from the bones of their dead ship-mates.

The author uses a hitherto unknown diary of one of the survivors discovered in an attic in Connecticut in spring 1998.

The sinking of the whaleship Essex by an enraged spermwhale far out in the Pacific in November 1820 set in train one of the most dramatic sea stories of all time. Now, following the discovery of a hitherto unknown account by one of the survivors, the last voyage of the Essex can be described in all its fateful horror.

The Essex was a whaleship from Nantucket, off the New England coast – for over a century the whaling capital of the world at a time when the Pacific was what the Middle East is today, the site of the world's primary oil reserves. For it was the spermwhale, a true leviathan of the deep possessing the largest brain of any animal ever lived, which provided the oil that lit the streets and lubricated the machines of the Industrial Age, and the Nantucket whalemen (mostly Quakers) were perhaps the greatest hunters the world has ever known.

Accounts of the unprecedented whale attack on the Essex inspired Herman Melville's might novel 'Moby Dick'but 'In the Heart of the Sea' goes beyond these events to describe what happened when the twenty mixed-race crewmen took to three small boats, with only the simplest of navigational aids. Three months later, the whaleship Dauphin, cruising off the coast of South America, spotted a tiny boat sailing erratically across the open ocean. As it pulled alongside, its crew saw bones – at least two skeletons' worth – and just two survivors (almost skeletons themselves) among them. The sailors had been forced to draw lots to decide who should be killed that the rest might live.

Nathaniel Philbrick has written a moving and powerful narrative history whose multi-layered drama (human, environmental, moral, physical and spiritual) has all the making of a classic. It is an elemental tale of human endurance and survival that is bound to have universal appeal.

'Nathaniel Philbrick has taken one of the most horrifying stories in maritime history and turned it into a classic. Rich in detail on topics ranging from celestial navigation and whale biology to history writing at its best – and at the same time, one of the most chilling books I have ever read.'
SEBATIAN JUNGER, author of 'The Perfect Storm'