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

The crew of Chase’s boat, which included just three men, arrived in Chile on February 25, 1821. Due to local unrest, their story did not make a large stir. Fortunately for the men, there was a US ship in port, the Constellation, that agree to take them on board. After three months of starvation, the men found that they recovered very slowly and with great pain.

A little over a week after their own rescue and to their great delight, the men received word that their shipmates had been discovered as well—another whaleship, the Hero, brought news that the Dauphin had recovered Pollard and Ramsdell. They were found barely clinging to life and delirious, but they survived. On March 23, the captain of the Nantucket whaleship Eagle offered the men passage home; all but Pollard, who was judged to be too unwell, made the journey. Additionally, a rescue mission departed for the island the men had stopped at in search of Chappel, Weeks, and Wright. They had survived and were rescued on April 9. The members of the crew who remained unaccounted for were those in the third boat: Hendricks, West, and Bond. The boat had vanished, and they were presumed dead.