IN THE HEART OF THE SEA - The Epic True Story that Inspired MOBY DICK

PHILBRICK, Nathaniel

ISBN 10: 0002572125 / ISBN 13: 9780002572125

Editore: Flamingo / HarperCollins. London. ., 2000

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Trade paperback edition. XVIII, 302 PP with 2 maps, 2 plans, 1 tail piece and 14 head pieces, plus 16 pages with 28 b/w illustrations. Pictorial soft cover. Remainder mark at bottom edge and a small crease on front cover, otherwise o/wise fine. 23.3 x 15.3. The sinking of the whaleship Essex by an enraged whale, far out in the Pacific, November 1820.

Codice articolo 36467

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: IN THE HEART OF THE SEA - The Epic True Story that Inspired MOBY DICK
• Editore: Flamingo / HarperCollins. London. .
• Data di pubblicazione: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0002572125
• ISBN 13: 9780002572125
• Rilegatura: Brossura

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

The epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the 19th century, which was the inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.

The sinking of the whaleship Essex by an enraged spermwhale in the Pacific in November 1820 set in motion one of the most dramatic sea stories of all time: the twenty sailors who survived the wreck took to three small boats (one of which was again attacked by a whale) and only eight of them survived their subsequent 90-day ordeal, after resorting to cannibalising their mates.

Three months after the Essex was broken up, the whaleship Dauphin, cruising off the coast of South America, spotted a small boat in the open ocean. As they pulled alongside they saw piles of bones in the bottom of the boat, at least two skeletons’ worth, with two survivors – almost skeletons themselves – sucking the marrow from the bones of their dead ship-mates.

The author uses a hitherto unknown diary of one of the survivors discovered in an attic in Connecticut in spring 1998.

Informazioni sull?autore

Nathaniel Philbrick is a historian and broadcaster who has writen extensively about sailing. He is Director of the Egan Institute of Maritime Studies on Nantucket Island, and a research fellow at the Nantucket Historical Association. He was a consultant on the movie ‘Moby Dick’. He has lived on Nantucket with his wife and two children since 1986.