Happy Belated Birthday, Herman Melville!

From The New York Times Crossword, July 30, 2015

ACROSS

50  Whaling ship that inspired “Moby Dick”

A day late and a dollar short – I should have known better.  Even the New York Times Crossword tried to give me a clue with the above entry early in the week.  What did I miss?  Yesterday, August 1, was the birthday of Herman Melville, who these days is most famous for his novel, Moby Dick.  But wait, the clue isn’t asking for Herman Melville; it’s asking for the ship that inspired him to write Moby Dick.  Answer:  The Essex.

Now I realize that most stories about whaling ships are not exactly fairy tales, but the story of the Essex and its captain, George Pollard, is truly the stuff of nightmares.  It would be bad enough if his ship had been sunk by a whale, which it was.  It was this incident and only this one, that Melville used as the basis for his book.

After publication of the book, Melville actually went to Nantucket to promote the book and meet local residents.  He did at last meet with Pollard, but having heard bits and pieces about the events following the sinking of the Essex, he wisely kept further questions to himself.  Pollard had told his story to a few locals as well as a missionary – almost like a confession.

Photo by José María Pérez Nuñez

Photo by José María Pérez Nuñez

The story began on August 14, 1819, when the Essex left for what was planned to be a two-year whaling expedition.  Soon after leaving port, a squall damaged its topgallant sail, threatening the ship with sinking even at that point.  Eventually, the ship made it to Cape Horn, but the crew found the waters lacking in fish, so they made the fateful decision to sail on to the South Pacific in the hopes of better whaling prospects.

Stopping in the Galapagos to restock, one of the crew members set a fire as a joke, causing the rest of the crew to run through the flames to safety.  Days later, they could still see the smoke from the fire.  It is believed that the Floreana Tortoise and the Floreana Mockingbird were rendered extinct as a result of this stupidity.

Fast forward to November 1820, when after having successfully harpooned several whales, Pollard and his crew were whaling once again while the remainder of his crew remained on board the Essex to make minor repairs.  Owen Chase, the first mate, was one who stayed on board.  It was he who spotted a whale – by his estimates 85 feet in length – coming straight for the Essex.  In short time, the Essex was ruined, and Pollard and his men returned to the sinking ship.

There were only a few boats remaining, and while the Marquesas Islands were nearby, Chase and his crew convinced Pollard that the islands were populated by cannibals, and they made the disastrous decision to sail south in the hopes that they would meet another whaling ship and be rescued.

Weeks passed, and soon the crew resorted to cannibalism to survive.  It was not an unheard of practice in those lost at sea, but when they drew lots to see who would die next, the lot fell to Owen Coffin, Pollard’s first cousin.  Pollard begged him and even offered to take his place, but Coffin would have none of it.  This particular incident, not surprisingly, haunted Pollard the rest of his life.

After another ship of his sank later on, Pollard was labeled as a “Jonah” and was never offered another ship.  He retired to Nantucket and became the village night watchman.  His story has been chronicled in many books and articles over the years, and Melville himself never could forget the man or his story.  For more of this story, check out: Smithsonian mag