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

While many know the story of the sinking of the Titanic, fewer have heard the story of the Essex, a whaling ship that was sunk after being repeatedly rammed by an enormous whale during a whaling expedition in 1820. At one time, however, the story of the Essex was the most famous story of maritime tragedy in the United States, even inspiring certain aspects of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. Nathaniel Philbrick’s account of the journey of the Essex in In the Heart of the Sea attempts to carry on its legacy for new generations. Philbrick’s narrative draws on several first-person accounts, one of which—from a 14-year-old cabin boy named Thomas Nickerson—was unavailable to the public until 1984. This study guide uses the 2000 Penguin Random House edition of In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.

Content Warning: The source material contains extensive discussion of survival cannibalism as well as violence against animals.

Summary

Weighing in at 238 tons and measuring 87 feet in length, The Essex set sail from the Massachusetts island of Nantucket in August 1819 to hunt whales in the Pacific Ocean. The book begins with a discussion of various aspects of Nantucket’s history, explaining just how the island grew to be such a major player in the whaling industry.