For the crew of the essex, it was a day flecked with hope Learn how a whale rammed into the essex, a whaling ship in 1820, and the crew's ordeal of survival and cannibalism Discover how this incident inspired herman melville to write his classic novel, moby dick. The whaleship essex essex model, by mark sutherland, 2011.29.1 No one knows exactly what the essex looked like This model is based on close study of period ship portraits and details preserved in the ship’s government registration documents
On november 20, 1820, the essex was attacked by a sperm whale and sank 2,000 miles off south america Eight sailors were rescued five months later on april 5, 1821.
OPEN
