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Summary: In the heart of the sea, Essex tragedy
Review: I am a Nantucket native living in Hawaii...this book took me back in time as well as back home...incredible...I could not put it down! I read it on a beautiful beach in Maui, pausing every now and again to look out into the ocean and wonder what it must have been like for the men of the Essex...while I was safe on land. Read it, you wont be sorry.
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Summary: Fascinating story, superbly researched and well written
Review: "In the Heart of the Sea" is a brilliant historical reconstruction of one of the greatest maritime disasters of the Nineteenth Century. In 1820 the Nantucket, whaling ship, Essex, was rammed by an eighty-five foot sperm whale and sunk in a remote part of the South Pacific. The original crew of twenty endured more than ninety days or thirst, starvation, storms, and cannibalism in open lifeboats until finally only eight of them were rescued. Although maritime disasters were fairly common in the Nineteenth Century, the ordeal of the Essex was particularly striking because no ship had ever been attacked by a whale before. In fact, the sinking of the Essex probably provided Herman Melville with much of his inspiration for writing "Moby Dick". Drawing on existing accounts of the disaster and supplementing them with numerous sources and contextual studies, Nathaniel Philbrick has done a wonderful job of reconstructing life aboard the Essex and in its home port of Nantucket. For example, Philbrick supplements the limited information about the crew's first successful whale hunt with descriptions of how whalers chased and slew their pray, the amount of time it took, the skills and the danger involved, the effort required to drag the whale back to the ship and finally how the whale was cut and processed aboard the ship. Philbrick's detail, which is all drawn from primary sources, makes us feel that we are right there in the small whaleboats being dragged through the ocean by a newly harpooned sperm whale, or aboard the ship itself with the whale's blood and oil all over the deck and the stench of boiling whale blubber permeating the air. Philbrick also draws upon modern scientific studies to explain what the crew did incorrectly and what they endured during their survival in the lifeboats. For example, once the crew had regrouped after the sinking, a decision had to be made about which direction they should sail to in search of land. Although Captain Pollard had what turned out to be the correct instinct about where to proceed, he deferred to the combined judgment of his junior officers. Philbrick informs us that according to modern crisis management theory, a leader must be decisive at the onset of a crisis and should be increasingly democratic as the situation develops. When evaluated by standards that did not exist in his lifetime, it turns out that Captain Pollard chose the least suitable leadership style for the crisis at hand. Philbrick also draws upon modern scientific studies of the affects of starvation when describing the ordeal of hunger that faced the crew. From this he is able to gauge their physical and psychological state as their ordeal progressed. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is the way Philbrick explains and contextualizes the thoughts and values of Nineteenth Century whaling communities such as Nantucket. Philbrick explains the Quaker ethos that pervaded the whaling business, the code of ruggedness and bravery that dominated not only the whalers, but also their wives and children. This information is invaluable in helping us to understand what went through the mind of the entire crew from Captain to cabin boy at every stage of their journey and upon the subsequent return of the survivors. In fact, Philbrick is so good at bringing the rugged, industrial, and entrepreneurial Nantucket of the Nineteenth Century back to life that it is odd to compare it to the sleepy tourist destination that it has become today.
While it is clear that Philbrick loves his subject matter his narrative is commendably objective and avoids glorifying the people involved. In fact, Philbrick repeatedly makes note of the fact that the first of the Essex crew to perish were African American and he raises the possibility that the Nantucketers may have starved or killed them first in order to prolong their own survival. "In the Heart of the Sea" is a splendid read for lovers of history or true-life adventure narrative such as "Into Thin Air". In addition to being interesting and well researched, Philbrick's book is superbly written and will be difficult to put down.
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Summary: Fascinating history of a now little-known tragedy
Review: The wreck of the whaleship "Essex" went on to inspire Herman Melville to write "Moby Dick," but ironically, Melville ended his epic tome with a wreck and a crazed whale. Nathaniel Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea" begins--after some Nantucket and whale industry background--with the real-life "Essex" wreck and follows the crew through their several-months-long journey around the sea. Working with remarkably little first-hand material--and practically no direct quotations--Philbrick somehow manages to raise up a living, breathing cast of characters who, through a horrific encounter with a seemingly enraged whale, find themselves literally adrift on the ocean with little direction, scant food and water, and fateful disagreement as to their overall plan. Philbrick does an especially fine job sketching "a day in the life" of the typical Nantucketer, showing it to be a place where women could be proudly independent as their husbands and beaux went off to sea for years at a time and they stayed behind to manage hearth and home and most of the island's businesses. That Nantucket began its American life as a proudly insular community which now depends on an influx of strangers (i. e., island vacationers) each year to maintain cash flow is but one of the many ironies evident in this superb book.
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Summary: Moby Dick's inspiration
Review: Read this compelling tale of struggle and survival and you will feel strongly that Herman Melville had a real-life story in mind.
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Summary: Sailor's Eat Their Dead!
Review: An excellent read of the historical account of the sinking of the Essex. I found the historical aspects along with the added physiological and psycological analysis regarding the effects of exposure, dehydration and starvation to be intriguing. The history of cannabalism on the high seas was hereto unknown to me. Finally the irony associated with the leadership aspects and challenges of Captain Powell and his First Mate Owen Chase were quite interesting. I could not put this book down.
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Summary: The Real Moby Dick
Review: It is little wonder Mr. Melville was able to spin a yarn capable of captivating successive generations. "Moby Dick" had roots in the real life tragedy of the Essex. The fiction focuses on the whale and the captain. The factual account in this page turner brings the life and death struggle for survival down to a conscious and personal level.
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Summary: hmmm... kinda nice book to read...
Review: first of all, despite all the nice explanation of Essex, it's doubtful that this book won the national book award. i think there are bunch of books out there which wait for winning the award, and certainly have better stuffs. but i can't criticize this book. (i'm not a book-review-person or what..) anyway... this book was just a regular book to me.
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Summary: You won't put this book down
Review: Be careful when you pick up this book. Once you do you won't want to put it down. The book is a wonderful use of 6-10 hours of your life. I look at our lives today a lot differently now, and how little we understand about holding onto living. This book puts in perspective just how bad and gruesome human tragedy -- and perserverent -- life can be. I have never read a book twice, but this book I will read again.
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Summary: Scholarly and accessible tale of tragedy
Review: The "Heart of the Sea" is an accessible piece of writing with a scholarly bent. It's almost written as a journalistic piece about a great voyage and yet it deals with one of Nantucket's greatest yarns. My wife was reading "Ahab's Wife" as I read "Heart of the Sea" and we found ourselves trading passages aloud on similar subjects. It helped me to put "Moby Dick" into better perspective and broadened my respect for Melville. The author is authoritative, honest and yet gentle in the many incredibly painful subjects that he covers in his tale. Clearly, the work is deserving of the acclaim it has received. It serves well to show the depth of man's instinct for self-preservation and the ability that mortals possess innately for invention under duress in the most dire circumstances. Surely, the crew of the Essex handled themselves, on the whole, most nobly and inventively despite virtually every calamity that the sea could muster to throw at them. The Captain of the Essex struck me as a 19th century Aeneas. I was pleased to learn so much about Nantucket, one of New England's loveliest places. This book is especially good summer reading at the beach, no matter which body of water one happens to prefer.
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Summary: In The Heart of the Sea
Review: Philbrick as written this tragedy in such a manner that you must experience the trip with the sailors. Altho non-fiction, it is easily read, a book that is savored and felt for the bravery, courage, humanity and convictions of the men. I highly recommend this - good for sailing reading material!
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