The Essex was an American whaleship

Whaler

A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...

 from Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...

. The ship, captained by George Pollard, Jr., was widely known for being attacked and sunk by a sperm whale

Sperm Whale

The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...

 in the southern Pacific Ocean

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

 in 1820 – an incident that served as inspiration for Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...

.

Ship and crew

The Essex was an elderly ship, but so many of her voyages were profitable she gained the reputation as a "lucky" vessel. Pollard and his first mate, Owen Chase, had served together on her previous, equally successful, trip, and it led to their promotions. Only 29, Pollard was one of the youngest men ever to command a whaling ship. Owen Chase was 23, and the youngest member of the crew was the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, who was only 15.

She had recently been totally refitted, but at 87 feet (26.5 m) long, and weighing 238 tons

Tonnage

Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...

, unladen, she was small for a whaleship. The Essex was equipped with four separate whaleboats, each about 28 feet in length, which were launched from the ship. These boats were built for speed rather than durability, being Clinker built

Clinker (boat building)

Clinker building is a method of constructing hulls of boats and ships by fixing wooden planks and, in the early nineteenth century, iron plates to each other so that the planks overlap along their edges. The overlapping joint is called a land. In any but a very small boat, the individual planks...

, with planks that overlapped each other rather than fitting flush together with more watertight seams.

Voyage

The Essex left Nantucket on August 12, 1819 on a two-and-a-half-year voyage to the whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

 grounds off the west coast of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Two days after leaving port the ship was hit by a squall that knocked her on her beam ends, nearly sinking her. The topgallant sail

Topgallant sail

On a square rigged sailing vessel, a topgallant sail is the square-rigged sail or sails immediately above the topsail or topsails. It is also known as a gallant or garrant sail....

 was lost and three whaleboats were destroyed. Deciding to continue without replacing the boats and repairing the damage, the Essex rounded Cape Horn

Cape Horn

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

 in January 1820. This passage took a full five weeks, which was extreme even for that time; combined with the unsettling earlier incident there began to be talk of ill-omens. These were put aside as the Essex began the long spring and summer hunt in the warm waters of the south Pacific, going up the western coast of South America and reaching Hood Island in the Galapagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

 group on October 8th. Finding the area nearly fished out, other whalers they encountered told them of a newly discovered hunting ground, (known as the "offshore ground") located at 5

5th parallel south

The 5th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 5 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

–10 degrees south

10th parallel south

The 10th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 10 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

 latitude and 105

105th meridian west

The meridian 105° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

–125 degrees west

125th meridian west

The meridian 125° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

 longitude, in the South Pacific

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, roughly 2500 nautical miles (4,600 km) to the south and west.

In the early days of Pacific whaling, this was an immense distance to travel out from land, and the area, with its many islands rumored to be populated by cannibals, was an unknown quantity.

Whale attack

Thousands of miles from the coast of South America, tension was mounting among the officers of the Essex, in particular between Pollard and Chase. The launched whaleboats had come up empty for days, and Chase's boat had been damaged by a whale surfacing directly beneath it. But at eight in the morning of November 20, 1820, the lookout sighted spouts and three of the ship's four remaining whaleboats set out to pursue a sperm whale pod.

On the leeward side of the Essex Chase's boat harpooned a whale, but its fluke

Fluke

Fluke may refer to:* Unlikely, usually positive chance occurrence, esp. a surprising piece of luck.* Fluke, a type of flatfish alternatively called a Summer flounder* Fluke, an alternative name for a whale tail...

 struck the boat and opened up a seam, resulting in their having to cut his line from the whale and put back to the ship for repairs. Two miles away off the windward side, Captain Pollard and the second mate's boats had each harpooned a whale and were being dragged towards the horizon in what was known as a Nantucket sleighride

Nantucket Sleighride

Nantucket Sleighride is the second album by hard rock band Mountain.- Track listing :# "Don't Look Around" - 3:42# "Taunta " - 1:00...

. Chase was repairing the damaged boat on board when the crew observed a whale, that was much larger than normal (alleged to be around 85 feet (25.9 m)), acting strangely. It lay motionless on the surface with its head facing the ship, then began to move towards the vessel, picking up speed by shallow diving. The whale rammed the ship and then went under, battering it and causing it to tip from side to side. Finally surfacing close on the starboard side of the Essex with its head by the bow

Bow

Bow may refer to:* Bow , an archery weapon that uses elasticity to propel arrows* Bowing , to lower the head or the upper body* Bow , the foremost point of the hull of a ship or boat...

 and tail

Tail

The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...

 by the stern, the whale appeared to be stunned and motionless. Chase prepared to harpoon

Harpoon

A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...

 it from the deck when he realized that its tail was only inches from the rudder

Rudder

A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...

, which the whale could easily destroy if provoked by an attempt to kill it. Fearing to leave the ship stranded thousands of miles from land with no way to steer it, he relented. The whale recovered and swam several hundred yards ahead of the ship and turned to face the bow.

"I turned around and saw him about one hundred rods (550 yards) directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed (around 24 knots or 44kph), and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent thrashing of his tail. His head about half out of the water, and in that way he came upon us, and again struck the ship." —Owen Chase.

The whale crushed the bow like an eggshell, driving the 238-ton vessel backwards. The whale finally disengaged its head from the shattered timbers and swam off, never to be seen again, leaving the Essex quickly going down by the bow. Chase and the remaining sailors frantically tried to add rigging

Rigging

Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...

 to the only remaining whaleboat, while the steward ran below to gather up whatever navigational aids he could find.

"The captain's boat was the first that reached us. He stopped about a boat's length off, but had no power to utter a single syllable; he was so completely overpowered with the spectacle before him. He was in a short time, however, enabled to address the inquiry to me, "My God, Mr. Chase, what is the matter?" I answered, "We have been stove by a whale."
—Owen Chase.

Survivors

The ship sank 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) west of South America. After spending two days salvaging what supplies they could, the twenty-one sailors set out in the three small whaleboat

Whaleboat

A whaleboat is a type of open boat that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either forwards or backwards equally well. It was originally developed for whaling, and later became popular for work along beaches, since it does not need to be turned around for beaching or...

s with wholly inadequate supplies of food and fresh water. The closest known islands, the Marquesas

Marquesas Islands

The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...

, were more than 1200 mi (1,931.2 km) to the west and Captain Pollard intended to make for them but the crew, led by Owen Chase, feared the islands may be inhabited by cannibals and voted to make for South America. Unable to sail against the Trade wind

Trade wind

The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere near the Earth's equator...

s, the boats had to sail south for 1000 mi (1,609.3 km) before they could use the Westerlies

Westerlies

The Westerlies, anti-trades, or Prevailing Westerlies, are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, blowing from the high pressure area in the horse latitudes towards the poles. These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, and steer extratropical...

 to turn towards South America, which would still lie another 3000 mi (4,828 km) to the east.

Literally within hours of the crew beginning to die of thirst the boats landed on uninhabited Henderson Island

Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands)

Henderson Island is an uninhabited raised coral atoll in the south Pacific Ocean, that in 1902 was annexed to the Pitcairn Islands colony, a South Pacific Dependent Territory of the United Kingdom. Measuring long and wide, it has an area of and is located northeast of Pitcairn Island at . The...

, within the modern-day British territory of the Pitcairn Islands

Pitcairn Islands

The Pitcairn Islands , officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Pacific...

. On Henderson Island they found a small freshwater spring and the men gorged on birds, fish, and vegetation. However, after one week, they had exhausted the island's food resources and on December 26 concluded that they would starve if they remained much longer. Three men, William Wright, Seth Weeks and Thomas Chapple, who were the only white members of the crew who were not natives of Nantucket, opted to stay behind on Henderson. The remaining Essex crewmen resumed the journey on New Year's Eve, but within three days had exhausted the fish and birds they had collected for the voyage, leaving only a small reserve of bread, salvaged from the Essex. One by one, the men began to die.

Chase boat

On January 10, Matthew Joy died and on the following day the boat carrying Owen Chase, Richard Peterson, Isaac Cole, Benjamin Lawrence and Thomas Nickerson became separated from the others during a squall

Squall

A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed which is usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to an increase in the sustained winds over a short time interval, as there may be higher gusts during a squall event...

. Peterson died on January 18 and like Joy, was sewn in his clothes and buried at sea, as was the custom. On February 8, Isaac Cole died but with food running out they kept his body and, after a discussion, the men resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. By February 15 the three remaining men had again run out of food and on February 18, were spotted and rescued by the British whaleship Indian 90 days after the sinking of the Essex.

Pollard and Hendricks boats

Obed Hendrick's boat exhausted their food supplies on January 14 with Pollard's men exhausting theirs on January 21. Lawson Thomas had died on January 20 and it was now decided they had no choice but to keep the body for food. Charles Shorter died on January 23, Isiah Shepard on January 27 and Samuel Reed on January 28. Later that day the two boats separated with the one carrying Obed Hendricks, Joseph West and William Bond never to be seen again.

By February 1 the food had run out and the situation in Captain Pollard's boat became quite critical. The men drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed for the survival of the crew. A young man named Owen Coffin, Captain Pollard's 17 year old cousin, whom he had sworn to protect, drew the black spot. Pollard allegedly offered to protect his cousin but Coffin is said to have replied "No, I like my lot as well as any other." Lots were drawn again to determine who would be Coffin's executioner. His young friend, Charles Ramsdell, drew the black spot. Ramsdell shot Coffin, and his remains were consumed by Pollard, Brazillai Ray, and Charles Ramsdell. On February 11, Ray also died. For the remainder of their journey, Pollard and Ramsdell survived by gnawing on the bones of Coffin and Ray. They were rescued when almost within sight of the South American coast by the Nantucket whaleship Dauphin on February 23, 95 days after the Essex sank. Both men by that time were so completely dissociative

Dissociation

Dissociation is an altered state of consciousness characterized by partial or complete disruption of the normal integration of a person’s normal conscious or psychological functioning. Dissociation is most commonly experienced as a subjective perception of one's consciousness being detached from...

 that they did not even notice the Dauphin alongside them and became terrified upon seeing their rescuers.

Rescue and reunion

Pollard, Chase, Ramsdell, Lawrence, and Nickerson were reunited in the port of Valparaíso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

, where they informed officials there of their three shipmates stranded on Henderson Island. A ship destined on a trans-Pacific passage was ordered to look for the men on Henderson. Although close to death, the three men were eventually rescued.

By the time the last of the eight survivors were rescued on April 5, 1821 the corpses of seven fellow sailors had been consumed. All eight returned to the sea within months of their return to Nantucket. Herman Melville later speculated that all would have survived had they followed Captain Pollard's recommendation and sailed west.

Aftermath

Captain George Pollard, Jr. returned to sea to captain the whaleship Two Brothers. After it was wrecked on the French Frigate Shoals

French Frigate Shoals

The French Frigate Shoals is the largest atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its name commemorates French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse, who nearly lost two frigates when attempting to navigate the shoals...

 during a storm off the coast of Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 on his first voyage, he retired from whaling and became Nantucket's night watchman. Every November 20, he would lock himself in his room and fast

Fasting

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...

 in memory of the men of the Essex.

First Mate Owen Chase

Owen Chase

Owen Chase was First Mate of the whale ship Essex, that was struck and sunk by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820. Chase wrote about the incident in Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex...

 wrote an account of the disaster, the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex; this was used by Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

 as one of the inspirations for his novel Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...

. Memories of the harrowing ordeal haunted Chase. He suffered terrible headaches and nightmares. Later in his life, Chase began hiding food in the attic of his Nantucket house on Orange Street and was eventually institutionalized.

The cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson

Thomas Nickerson

Thomas Nickerson was a fourteen-year-old cabin boy on the Essex, who wrote an account of the ship's sinking and the three months that the crew survived at sea.-Overview:...

, became a captain in the Merchant Service

Merchant Navy

The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...

 and later wrote another account of the sinking titled The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats which was not published until 1984 by the Nantucket Historical Association. Nickerson wrote his account late in his life and it was lost until 1960. It was not until 1980, when it came into the hands of Nantucket whaling expert Eduardo Stackpole, that its significance was realized.

Charles Ramsdell captained the whaleship General Jackson before his retirement. Benjamin Lawrence went on to captain the whaleships Dromo and Huron before retiring to become a farmer. William Wright returned to whaling and drowned during a hurricane in the West Indies. Seth Weeks retired to Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

. Thomas Chapple is believed to have become a missionary preacher.

Most of the survivors at some time or another wrote accounts of the disaster, some of which differ considerably on details regarding the behavior of various survivors.

Legacy

As noted above, word of the sinking reached a young Herman Melville when, while serving on the whaleship Acushnet, he met the son of Owen Chase who was serving on another whaleship. Coincidentally, the two ships encountered each other less than 100 mi (160.9 km) from where the Essex sank. Chase lent his father's account of the ordeal to Melville, who read it at sea and was inspired by the idea that a whale was capable of such violence. Melville later met Captain Pollard, writing inside his copy of Chase's narrative, "Met Captain Pollard on Nantucket. To most islanders a nobody. To me, one of the most extraordinary men I have ever met." In time, he wrote Moby-Dick: or, The Whale

Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...

, in which a sperm whale is said to be capable of similar acts. Melville's book draws its inspiration from the first part of the Essex story, ending with the sinking.

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a National Book Award winning work of maritime history by Nathaniel Philbrick. It tells the story of the Whaleship Essex from the point of view of Thomas Nickerson who was a fourteen-year-old cabin boy on the Essex. The book is based...

 is a National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 winning work of maritime history by Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a winner of the National Book Award for his 2000 work of maritime history In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. He is member of the Philbrick literary family.-Life:...

. It tells the story of the Essex, including the point of view of Nickerson in addition to that of Chase.

The tale of the Essex is retold by staff members almost daily at the Nantucket Whaling Museum

Nantucket Whaling Museum

The Nantucket Whaling Museum is a museum located in Nantucket, Massachusetts, dedicated to the history of whaling. It is run by the Nantucket Historical Association.- Exhibits :...

.

The story was also the inspiration for a notable popular song, the title track to the band Mountain

Mountain (band)

Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today...

's 1971 album Nantucket Sleighride.

The story of the Essex was used by the 2009 BBC TV series South Pacific

South Pacific (TV series)

South Pacific is a British nature documentary series from the BBC Natural History Unit, which began airing on BBC Two on 10 May 2009. The six-part series surveys the natural history of the islands of the South Pacific region, including many of the coral atolls and New Zealand. It was filmed...

 in episode 3, "Endless Blue", to illustrate the difficulty of survival for humans in the open ocean.

See also

• Ann Alexander
  Ann Alexander (ship)
  The Ann Alexander was a whaling ship from New Bedford, Massachusetts, notable for being rammed by a wounded sperm whale in the South Pacific on August 20, 1851, some thirty years after the famous incident in which the Essex was stove in and sunk by a whale in the same area.-Early History:In her...
  
  , a ship sunk by a whale on August 20, 1851
• Custom of the Sea
• R v Dudley and Stephens
  R v Dudley and Stephens
  R v Dudley and Stephens [1884] 14 QBD 273 DC is a leading English criminal case that established a precedent, throughout the common law world, that necessity is no defense against a charge of murder. It concerned survival cannibalism following a shipwreck and its purported justification on the...
  
  
• The Raft of the Medusa
• The Divinity of Oceans
  The Divinity of Oceans
  The Divinity of Oceans is the second album by the German funeral doom metal band Ahab. This album was also released through Napalm Records, like their previous releases were.-Track listing:...
  
  , an album conceptually based upon these events by German funeral doom band, Ahab
  Ahab (band)
  Ahab is a German funeral doom metal band founded in 2004 by Midnattsol guitarists Christian Hector and Daniel Droste and former Endzeit guitarist Stephan Adolph. The band is named after Captain Ahab, a character in the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville...
  
  

Further reading

Also in Heffernan, Thomas Farel, Stove by a whale: Owen Chase and the Essex, Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press ; [New York] : distributed by Columbia University Press, 1981.

• Karp, Walter
  Walter Karp
  Walter Karp was an American journalist, historian, and writer published in magazines such as American Heritage and Horizon, and also was a contributing editor for Harper's magazine , which re-published some of his political history books in 2003...
  
  , "The Essex Disaster", American Heritage
  American Heritage (magazine)
  American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
  
  , April/May 1983 (34:3)

External links

• Summary of the Essex Tragedy
• Artifacts of the Essex
• Nantucket Historical Association
• Nantucket Whaling Museum
• "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World", PBS, American Experience
  American Experience
  American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
  
  , 2010.
• 'Moby Dick' captain's ship found — George Pollard, Jr.