History's A Disaster
Bloody history and bloodier crimes. Andrew takes a weekly look at all things bloody. From natural disasters to man made atrocities
History's A Disaster
The Sinking of the Essex Part 1: The Real Life Moby Dick
Massive whales hunted from tiny rowboats. Men covered head-to-toe in blood and oil. A ship sunk by an angry leviathan. Welcome to the brutal world of 19th-century whaling.
"Oil makes the world go round." This simple truth connected our petroleum-powered present with a past fueled by whale oil. The Essex, an aging 87-foot whaling vessel from Nantucket, set sail in August 1819 under newly-promoted Captain George Pollard Jr. with a crew of twenty men. Most were inexperienced sailors who'd taken this dangerous work as a last resort - and for good reason.
This episode plunges you into the harrowing realities of life aboard a whaling ship, where danger lurked everywhere and comfort was non-existent. You'll discover the economics of whaling (spoiler: the owners got rich while sailors earned pennies), the stark racial hierarchies that determined sleeping arrangements, and the mind-boggling bravery (or insanity) required to hunt 80-ton animals from a small wooden boat with hand-thrown weapons.
The hunting process itself was nightmare fuel. After harpooning a whale, sailors would be dragged through rough seas at breakneck speeds before approaching the exhausted animal to stab it repeatedly until it drowned in its own blood. Then came days of processing the carcass on deck - a hellscape of smoke, gore, and relentless labor as blubber was stripped, chopped, and boiled down into precious oil.
The Essex's voyage faced early disaster when a severe storm nearly capsized the ship, destroying two whaling boats. After slowly building success off the South American coast, they were heading for the Galapagos Islands when the unthinkable happened - a massive sperm whale attacked and sank their ship, setting the stage for one of history's most notorious survival stories that would later inspire Moby Dick.
Join us next week as we continue the harrowing tale of the Essex and discover the terrifying lengths humans will go to when faced with the ultimate survival situation.
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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
Oil. Oil makes the world go round. That's as true today as it was in the 19th century. The main difference now is where that oil comes from. Today it's drilled and pumped from the ground, but way back in the 19th century things were just a little bit different and what I can only assume was way more terrifying. The oil came from whales, and in the 19th century the whale industry was booming. The oil was highly sought after for use in lighting and machine lubrication, and I know I've said this before, but sailing in the 19th century, or any century, really had to be fucking terrifying, on top of just the normal dangers of sailing. Now you're adding in hunting the largest animal known to man, and on a little ass rowboat at that. Nope, I'll pass on that, because sometimes, on that, Because sometimes, just sometimes these big ass whales say nope, not today and attack, which is exactly what happened on November 20th 1820. While on a whaling expedition, the Essex was attacked and sunk by a large sperm whale. The 20-man crew would survive the attack but were trapped on these little-ass whaling boats on the open ocean thousands of miles from land. So what happened?
Speaker 1:I'm Andrew and this is History's A Disaster. Tonight we're diving like a sperm whale into the tragedy that would inspire Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick. The sinking of the whale ship the Essex greatly inspired the climactic scene in Moby Dick, as well as different themes that ran throughout the novel. But enough dick talk, let's get into it. The sinking of the Essex was the most famous maritime disaster in the 19th century. Of the 20 men that set sail from Nantucket, the whaling capital of the world at the time, only 8 men would survive the voyage to return home by different routes after being separated in their desperate fight for survival on the open ocean. And just a little note on the episodes. The main source of research was the Heart of the Ocean by Nathan Philbrick, and tonight's episode will also be featuring graphic displays of what would be considered animal cruelty. So just a little warning Now.
Speaker 1:The Essex was crewed by Captain George Pollard Jr, first mate Owen Chase, second mate Matthew Joy, boat steers Benjamin Lawrence, obed Hendricks, thomas Chappell, stuart William Bond, sailors Owen Coffin, isaac Cole, henry DeWitt, richard Peterson, charles Ramsdale, barzilla Ray, samuel Reed, isaac Shepard, charles Shorter, lawson Thomas Seth Weeks, joseph West, william Wright and finally cabin boy Thomas Nickerson. And the book the Heart of the Sea was based on Thomas Nickerson's account of what happened on the ship In July of 1819,. The Essex was but one of 70 whale ships in the Nantucket fleet, plying their trade in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In a time when the global economy was in a depression, whale oil prices, however, were steadily increasing. The little island village of Nantucket was fast becoming the richest town in America.
Speaker 1:The Essex was a small old ship, being only 87 feet long and a 238 ton displacement, but she was often regarded as a lucky ship, its previous captains having made several successful voyages which made the owners extremely happy and wealthy. The previous captain had been promoted to a larger vessel and George Pollard Jr was promoted from first mate to captain and given command of the Essex. With his promotion, several others of the crew were also promoted. Now Nantucket was a highly religious town, being ran almost entirely by the Quakers, making them extremely pious but savage businessmen and sailors and also a bit prone to superstition. There were several sightings of a comet in the sky which, to them, meant something strange was about to happen. Add to that, the rumors of a giant sea serpent-like creature spotted up and down the east coast and many people were left wondering if now was really a great time to be going out on the ocean. Considering how much they got paid to go out on a whale ship, I'm not sure any time was the right time to go.
Speaker 1:Sailors on whale ships didn't get paid a regular wage. They got paid a share of whatever they brought in. For example, the cabin boy of the Essex on the previous voyage received a 1,198th share, with the Essex bringing in a total of $26,500 on its previous voyage. The cabin boy was paid after all. His expenses were paid, since you know damn well the owners are going to nickel and dime you for whatever they can. A whopping total of $150 for a two-year voyage, which was obviously not great even back then. Granted, he got free room and board and a ton of experience as a whaleman From the voyage, he still didn't get paid shit compared to what the owners made.
Speaker 1:The crew members on a Nantucket whale ship were also expected to help prepare the ship for the voyage. In effect, they were giving free labor. This was a practice that was pretty much only done in Nantucket. Through the month of July there was a lot of work being done on the Essex. The entire upper deck was rebuilt, it was pulled up and the hull was re-coppered.
Speaker 1:The Essex was 20 years old at this point and was getting near the point of having to be retired. There was some suspicion at the time that while they've rebuilt the entire top half of the ship, they may have cheaped out on fixing up anything below the waterline. Ship owners were notoriously cheap and the owners of the Essex had just purchased a newer, larger ship, so most likely didn't want to spend much on such an old ship. It's also well known that owners often cut corners in under-provisioned ships, meaning they didn't send enough things like beef or hardtack. Because why spend money on food? It's not like people need to eat or anything.
Speaker 1:By the end of July the Essex was nearly ready to go, but still only half crewed. Being a brand new, captain Pollard had to defer to more experienced captains when it came to picking his crew and all that was left was the ones no one else wanted. And since there was no one left to fill the remaining spots, they had to rely on non-Nantucket sailors to fill the crew. So they contacted an agent in Boston to get as many black sailors as they could find Outside of Nantucket. Taking work on a whaling ship was kind of a last resort, bottom of the barrel situation. For most it was not a very desirable position, which will become painfully obvious later in the episode.
Speaker 1:As they waited for more men, the Essex was loaded up with what provisions and stores they'd need for the voyage, with thousands of gallons of fresh water, tons of food and lots and lots of whaling equipment, harpoons and lances and shit like that. By this time seven black sailors had agreed to join the voyage and were on their way to Nantucket. While they would never be considered as equals to anyone from Nantucket and no one really was they were a bit snobbish about anyone not born on Nantucket. They would get paid the same as anyone else. Everyone got paid according to their rank. They didn't give a damn about shit like race Out on the ocean. They had to rely on any man aboard regardless, although I'd be lying if I said racism didn't play a small part in how they were treated aboard ship.
Speaker 1:By August 11th, everyone except the captain was aboard ship and they had one final opportunity to party it up with another whaling ship, the Chili, without the captains there, to rain on their parade. That night, while the two ships partied, another rumor of a bizarre omen was circulating town. Swarms of grasshoppers were spotted covering the earth and tearing up the turnip fields. And for both these ships, the comet and the grasshoppers, along with talks of Sea Serpent, would spell disaster for both voyages. The Chili would spend nearly four years at sea and return with barely a quarter of its holds filled with oil, making it more of a financial disaster than anything, but a disaster nonetheless, and nowhere near as dark as what was about to unfold for the crew of the Essex.
Speaker 1:On August 12th, captain Pollard would join the crew on the Essex. This was his first time being in command of a ship but since he'd spent nearly the entirety of the last four years on board the Essex as either the first or second mate, no one, with the exception of the previous captain, knew her better. With everyone now on board, they were ready to go, and leaving the town could always lead to a bit of embarrassment for a captain, especially a new captain such as Pollard. The town always came out to see a whale ship off, and among them were always older sailors and the ship's owners watching and judging the ship as it left. And, as the case with the Essex, most of the crew was new and had no idea what they were doing. They bumbled about the deck, not knowing the difference between a mast and a spar and what the hell are all these ropes for. Anyways, captain Pollard yelled out orders, trying to get them to make some sense of the chaos on deck. Owen Chase, being the first mate, repeated the orders and yelled and belittled the men until they got to doing what they were supposed to be doing. Eventually they got done Very slowly but done and they were finally on their way.
Speaker 1:Once on their way, they divided the crew up into shifts and then picking who would be on which of the three whale boats. Native Nantucketers would be the first picks. Nantucketers were always the most desirable amongst the clannish nature of a whale ship followed by the few men they got from Cape Cod. And then the black sailors would be last picked. The men would eat and sleep in three separate areas of the ship, with the captain and mates having their own cabins in the rear of the ship. Just forward of them was steerage, where the boat steerers and any Nantucketers would eat and sleep. And at the very front of the ship was the forecastle, an extremely cramped and dark area separated from steerage by the blubber room. And of course, they put the black sailors in the worst area, but they made the best of it In the most forward part of the ship. They didn't have to worry about being constantly watched by officers or having to keep quiet. They had their own little world where they were a bit more free to sing and dance and smoke and do shit that the white sailors back in steerage couldn't do, since they had the officers of the ship right there to put a stop to it by the next day.
Speaker 1:Many of the first-timers were seasick and the Nantucketers had the perfect cure for that They'd tie a piece of pork fat to a string and the seasick sailor would swallow it, and then they'd yank that shit back out again. And if you still felt sick after that, they'd do it again till your symptoms went away. Yeah, nope, I'd be good at just watching it happen to someone else, cause. Well, fuck that. And on top of most of them being seasick, they'd all have to take turns watching for whales, which meant climbing to the top of the main mast, clinging to it as the boat pitched and rocked in the sea and looked for whales. And good luck not puking, because you know that mast was just swaying all over the damn place and being a lookout wasn't like in the cartoons, where you got a nice little spot up there. Oh no, that'd be way too nice. If you were lucky, you had a couple iron hoops to hold on to.
Speaker 1:Now that they were at sea, they were making their way to Cape Horn and since it's basically a large sailboat, they couldn't take a direct path. They were at the mercy of the winds. They sailed towards Europe and Africa, before catching the winds that would take them south, to South America and Cape Horn. On their way to the coast, they had a couple stops planned where they could buy vegetables and livestock cheaper than what was available at home. They were making good time heading to their first stop in the Azores. Every sail they had was set and they were hitting a whopping six knots, which was unfortunate their third day at sea and the weather was starting to take a shift.
Speaker 1:The sea started getting rocky as they sailed through the night. The morning brought a steady rain with it. Some of the sails were taken in, but not enough. They miscalculated the severity of the storm clouds brewing on the horizon as they sailed towards them. By the time they realized their mistake, with lightning streaking across the sky, it was much too late. They tried to turn from the storm but the Essex was way too slow.
Speaker 1:The wind slammed broadside into the ship. The ghastly sound of the wind ripping through the rigging and tearing at the sails unnerved the new sailors. The wind pushed and pushed against the side of the ship. The ship's keel and ballast, weighing the ship down at first, refused to bow to the pressure, eventually relented. The ship was tilting in the wind. The mast with all those sails still set worked against the ship and dragged her over. The Essex was flipped nearly 90 degrees on her side as she floundered in the storm. The crew clung desperately to anything they could reach to stop from being pulled into the sea. Cargo in the holds was knocked about as men dodged the flying debris inside the ship. Two of the whale boats on the port side were smashed beneath the sea. The cookhouse was smashed by the heavy stone and cookware and damn near tore from the ship. With the hull blocking the wind, there was a moment of calm on the deck.
Speaker 1:Pollard seized the opportunity to assert command and issue orders to get the crew moving. They had to get the ship to right itself before it dipped too far into the ocean. They tried to run as much sail down as possible, but things just weren't working right. The order to break out the axes and cut the mast loose was about to be given, as they felt the ship start to shift again. The blast in the hold had reasserted itself and the ship began to right itself, but they weren't out of danger yet. They were now pointed into the wind. The wind was no longer a squall but was pushing hard into the sails. The whale boat at the rear of the ship took a beating as the Essex was pushed backwards. The masts howled and groaned as they were pushed in ways not designed to go. The possibility of losing all three masts was real if they decided to come down. The ship eventually turned enough to fill the sails and send them in the right direction.
Speaker 1:The Essex, however, had suffered severe damage from the storm. The cookhouse was gone. Most of its main sails were ripped and useless. The two port side whale boats, along with all the gear, was smashed and washed away. The stern whale boat was crushed, but with a lot of work fixable. However, this would leave them with only three boats. A normal whale ship used three boats with two spares, so not a good position for the crew to be in.
Speaker 1:After a discussion between the officers, the decision was made to continue on to their first provisioning stop in Azores rather than returning to Nantucket for repairs. They figured they could pick up a few spare whale boats at the port. Plus, there was the fear, if they returned to Nantucket, that many of the crew would abandon ship and not return, and many of them probably would have More than just a few regretted their decision to go on the voyage as they repaired the ship and sailed on. Before reaching Azores they ran across the beached whale ship that had hit some rocks offshore and beached the ship before it could be sunk. The Essex managed to buy the lone whale boat they had left and it was an old, leaky piece of shit, but at least it was better than nothing. Afterwards they made it to the harbor at Azores and traded a barrel and a half of beans for 30 skinny ass pigs. So the deck of the Essex was filled with the sounds of these squealing pigs and smelling like pig shit, and I bet the smell went real well with anyone still seasick.
Speaker 1:After leaving and passing the equator, the Essex finally found what they came out for. The lookouts gave a shout of Dar, she blows the signal a whale spout had been spotted. Finally, after three months of not seeing anything, a whale had been spotted and with that the orders were shouted and the whale boats were prepped. Harpoons were sharpened one last time as tons of harpoon lines were loaded. Now they waited. Once the ship was within a mile of the whale it was brought to a standstill. The whale boats were lowered as the crews manned them. The Essex would be left with a crew of three as the whale boats went after their prey.
Speaker 1:With the whale boats in the water, the competition began. The first to get to the whale would get bragging rights and determine who was the better crew. They gave it their all as they rowed and bore down on their unsuspecting prey, with the captain or mate encouraging their men on faster and faster they pushed forward. In the end it would be first mate Owens Chase's boat that got there first. They were now within feet of the whale, perfect for the harpoon.
Speaker 1:Now it's up to Benjamin Lawrence, a novice harpooner who just spent a mile rowing hard to harpoon the giant whale. He braced himself for the throw, terror filling him as he eyed the whale and Chase urged him on. But before he could lift and throw the. The boat cracked and splintered, sending the crew flying. A second whale had came up beneath them and, with a flick of its massive tail, sent the whale boat airborne. Its entire side caved in. The whale quickly disappeared. As the crew clung to the wreckage, most of them didn't know how to swim. Most sailors at the time never learned. The other two crews had to abandon the hunt and rescue Chase's crew, and it would take several days for his smashed whale boat to be repaired. Just in time for more whales to be spotted. And this time Chase's crew would succeed. A harpoon was hurled and slammed into the side of the whale, securing the tiny whale boat to the massive creature.
Speaker 1:The harpoon does not kill the whale. Instead, it sends it into a frenzy. The whale drags the boat along for miles, getting up to speeds of 15 to 20 knots, bouncing and banging the boat around the entire time. Once it starts to tire itself out, the crew pulls on the harpoon line, pulling them inch by inch to the massive beast. Once near it, chase makes his way to the front of the boat, taking out the 12-foot long killing lance, using its sharpened end to pierce the whale over and over the water surrounding the boat runs red as the whale is pierced. Jay stabs and wiggles the lance in the beast as he searches for the coil of arteries near the lungs. Once he hits the mark, the whale starts to choke on its own blood, spouting a 15-foot geyser of blood and gore into the air. With the whale drowning in gore, the blood-covered crew quickly back the boat away. In its death throes the whale beats at the water with its tail, sniffing its jaws in the air as it vomits undigested fish and squid. And then it just stops. The whale falls motionless, floating belly up in a pool of its own blood and vomit.
Speaker 1:Now the hard work begins. They head to tow the whale head first back to the Essex. With the weight of the whale they were lucky to go one mile an hour. It would be after dark before they'd make it back to the Essex. And once at the Essex the butchery began.
Speaker 1:The whale is secured to the side of the ship and the cutting plank is lowered. The crew hacks a hole into its side above the fin and sets a giant hook into it. The hook is attached to a blocking tackle system on the ship, attached to the windlass. The ship creaks with the strain. As the hook is pulled up, the crew continues to cut the start of a 5 foot wide strip into the whale's side. The hook continues its pull upwards, ripping a 20-foot long strip from the whale. It's hoisted up into the ship and dropped into the blubber room where it's chopped up into smaller pieces.
Speaker 1:The crew continues until all the blubber has been removed from the whale and once it's completely stripped, its massive head is cut off. The head of the whale is nearly a third of its length and once it's hoisted on deck they cut a hole into a cavity in the skull. The cavity can hold almost 500 gallons of spermaceti. They use buckets to get as much of the sought-after oil. The deck of the Essex is covered in spilled oil and blood as they work. After stripping the whale, they dig in its intestines for ambergris, a fatty substance used in perfumes and is rather expensive. Finding this would be a nice bonus for the crew. And once they were done stripping and mutilating the corpse, they cut it free and just dumped it in the ocean With the blubber.
Speaker 1:Now in the blubber room, they started trying out the whale. They had to cut the tough, thick blubber into smaller pieces and place them in large tripods to boil the blubber down into the precious oil. The blood stained and oil slickened deck is filled with thick black smoke as the fires rage during the boiling process. For three days the fires burn as cask after cask is filled with the boiled down oil, the crew takes on a demonic appearance red-rimmed eyes from the smoke and covered in blood and oil. The experienced sailors wore the same clothes until the trying out process was over. Some of the new sailors, disgusted by the blood and oil, chose to change clothes and quickly destroyed every stitch of clothing they had, which forced them to buy new clothes from the ship's slop chest at extremely marked up prices. Of course, the slop chest was the maritime equivalent of a company store, so this would end up costing them nearly everything they would potentially earn.
Speaker 1:On the voyage Nearing Cape Horn. They had now been at sea for four months with only the single whale to show for it. The fear of the voyage would take much longer than two years increased the tension among the crew, along with food being another major point of discontent among the men, while the officers got to sit at a table with plates and silverware and enjoy all the vegetables and salt pork when fresh meat wasn't available they could eat. The rest of the crew weren't so lucky. Down in steerage in Forecastle they sat around a large wooden tub on their sea chest. Inside the tub was a salty ass hunk of meat. They had been sitting in seawater for a day to make it soft enough to chew. And for utensils they used whatever knife they had and a spoon, along with a tin cup for coffee or tea. And instead of vegetables and fresh bread they had hardtack that hard as a rock biscuit. They usually needed to be soaked in water to soften it up. And when the men dared to complain about their food, captain Pollard tore them a new one. Threats of flogging and much worse were made. The captain had shown his backbone and there would be no further complaints about provisions, provisions.
Speaker 1:It would be several more months of no whales as they rounded Cape Horn and hit the ocean off the coast of Peru. Here they would be fairly successful, bringing in 450 barrels of oil in just two months. They were hitting an exhausting pace of a whale every five days. But the weather didn't help their efforts one bit. With harsh winds and rough seas. They fought the ocean as much as the whales. They hunted the rapid pace of the hunt helped to turn the green whale men into experienced ones. They became desensitized to their grisly work and saw the butchery as nothing more than a means to an end, not only in terms of money, but each cask, each drop of oil was one step closer to what they all wanted to go home Soon they would move on from Peru to an area of the ocean they knew as the offshore grounds where whales congregated.
Speaker 1:Around November, they had just two more stops to make one in South America to get fresh fruits, vegetables and water. Then it's on to the Galapagos to get some turtles, and that is where we're going to call it a day. Come back next week for more fun on the Galapagos Islands and the cruise adventure into the offshore grounds. Thanks for listening and if you liked the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your app of choice, and follow the show on social media at HistoryIsADisaster on Facebook, instagram and a few others, and share the episode, because sharing is caring, and if there was more caring in the world, maybe history wouldn't be a disaster. Thanks and goodbye.