In the Heart of the Sea
Nathaniel Philbrick 2001, 296 pages Nonfiction
In 1821, a ship based out of Nantucket was sailing off the coast of Chile when it spotted a drifting lifeboat. The lifeboat contained two survivors of the Essex, a whaler that had been hit by a sperm whale and sunk in the middle of the Pacific Ocean three months before. Herman Melville based his novel Moby Dick on the Essex tragedy, but where Melville ends (with the sinking of the ship) is where the real trial began for the Essex survivors. Fearful of supposed cannibals on the nearby islands, they decided to sail for South America, which was 4,000 miles away. Reduced to 1.5 ounces of food and less than 16 ounces of water per day, only eight out of the 20 men survived, and several did so by resorting to cannibalism.
In the Heart of the Sea is well-written and gripping, with a lively narrative. The author discusses how the whaling industry kept pushing farther and farther out into the unknown in search of more whales and more profit. Where Philbrick really succeeds is in showing how the tragedy could only have happened at that specific moment in time. In 1820, the Essex would not have been out as far into the ocean; by 1822, the islands of the Pacific were better known and the crew could have sailed for a nearby port.
Philbrick doesn’t try to weave in a greater purpose in explaining what happened, which is refreshing, but he does point out the hubris of the crew in assuming that they would never be attacked by the whales they were hunting into near-extinction levels. If you enjoy thrillers or lively nonfiction, this book is highly recommended.
Nora Cascadden Concord Public Library
