In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex Paperback – May 1, 2001

First, let me dispatch any brooding reader from his or her fence-sitting about whether this book is worth the purchase price and time needed to read it through: it's all that and more, and more still. You will find yourself so drawn into this narrative that I suspect you will be overwhelmed, as I was, by an intense desire to have plentiful stores of water and food nearby while you read it.With one exception, I have never before read a work of historical nonfiction which held my interest like In the Heart of the Sea (the exception was Jeff Shaara's The Glorious Cause). You will repeatedly find yourself on the verge of total astonishment at the plight these men endured. Philbrick builds a mood of unrelenting gloom and horror and the book ends up reading more like a Stephen King novel than a history book. I feel totally comfortable recommending this book on the merits of the writing quality alone, because the writing is exceptional.So many new history books attempt to modernize the standard historical monograph by giving their books narrative structures, but in so doing, the writers end up taking something important and objective away from the reading experience. Philbrick doesn't do this, and I think he succeeds with his narrative precisely because he has two first-hand accounts of the disaster and because of the sensation this story caused and the flurry of press and ancillary writing generated regarding the Essex at the time. Of course, the existence of a talisman like Moby Dick certainly helped, as was Philbrick's oft-mentioned research into other whaling and sea disasters, most notably Captain Bligh and his troubles with The Bounty. It all comes together to give Philbrick's narrative weaving and artistic license an air of truth and detached journalistic reality, as though Philbrick himself had been present with the Essex survivors.Appertaining to its value as historical scholarship, In the Heart of the Sea seems to be as rigorously vetted and researched as anyone could expect given the limited information and catatonic delirium which, at nearly all points along the voyage, must have gripped the Chase and Nickerson, the two principle sources of information. In addition to his account of the doomed Essex voyage, Philbrick introduces readers to the unusual economy and personality of Nantucket. As a Folger descendant (the family name is mentioned several times in the book, and indeed, one of the owners of the Essex was named Folger), the geneological value of this brief adumbration about the town is fascinating. Furthermore, at the end of the book, the reader is greeted by what I perceive to be the most lucid, readable notes section that I have ever encountered before in any book and, as a result, this section stands as a useful tool and free bonus to the interested reader.I am quite hesitant to offer and critical remarks of this book at all, for fear someone reading this review might notice only that I had a criticism at all and would, without reading any details, forego purchase. My only criticism of the book is Philbrick's repeated injection of contemporary survival psychology. This was at times helpful, but I usually found these instances distracted me from the darkness and terror Philbrick had so carefully and successfully drawn me into. I wished he would have simply left the reader to commiserate with the Essex crew instead of, by including this running psychological commentary, being tacitly reminded that this was only a book. Again, not an issue at all. Buy the book.Thank you.

A great story of survival on the seas. I enjoyed this book and was amazed by the depths to which these men sank. The writer did a great job pulling his information from all sources available for a story 180 years old. When there was disagreements as to stories, this was pointed out. By now you have probably heard the main part of the story: massive whale attacks and sinks ship, men are put in small whaling ships and set out on the sea to travel over 2,000 miles with crude navigational devices spending over 90 days on the sea. This book really describes in detail the depths the human body will go to from a physical and mental standpoint. The book becomes so engrossing you can't put it down. I do most of my reading at night but started reading early over breakfast right as the issue of cannibalism came up. Not my best move as it is studied in depth.This writer does a good job of relaying the journals kept and then translating the physical and mental effects to later studies done on starvation, particularly the Minnesota study done in the 1940s.The crew eventually splits into four groups and it's interesting to see what happens to the four groups. I particularly found it interesting they were able to determine what happened to the three crew members left on an island after refusing to get back in the whaling boat.Overall, I think you will enjoy this book. If you like this book, I strongly encourage you to read Endurance about the journey of Shackleton. It's very similar and mesmerizing how they survived in extreme cold. I normally don't like period piece books but this is very good and I strongly recommend. If you like books of adventure and survival, this is a good book for you.

What a powerful book. This book drew lots of emotion out of me and I developed lots of empathy for the whalers and their families, plus the slaughtering of the whales added to my wanting of the whaling industry of today totally stopped. Its totally inhumane, gross and horrible. I feel for the whales too.Great action and historical truth about the whale ship Essex and her crew and their families in Nantucket.In the Heart of the Sea The Tragedy of the whaleship Essex is a page burner. Read it in 1 1/2 day. No boring parts...a fascinating read.This was the true story Herman Melville based his epic great novel Moby Dick on.Nathaniel Philbrick wrote a fascinating true historical book on the tragedy that befalls the crew on the whale ship Essex. 1819 the whale ship Essex and her 20 man crew leave Nantucket island for a 1 1/2 year regular whaling voyage. Unfortunately the Essex is rammed twice by an estimated 85ft Sperm Whale. The Essex is capsized and later sinks. The crew abandon ship in 3 small whaleboats with only a few hundred pounds of hardtack for food and luckily several nautical sighting instruments.LOTs of mistakes are made by Captain George Pollard, first mate Chase and a man named Joy in charge of their respective whaleboats. The captain had originally the right idea to head for an island but was swayed by the other officers because of fears of cannibals on islands to head for South America. We see the tragic dilemma of missing the right winds, missing closer islands with no cannibals and having to travel thousands of miles and running out of food and water. The men are forced to become cannibals and eating their dead friends and one time a young man ( Captain Pollard's nephew) draws a lot and is killed and eaten. Strange and suspect that the first eaten were all the black sailors. INMO the true Nantucket natives kept to themselves and became the hawks to prey on the blacks who seemed to get sicker first. The blacks had the poorer food on the Essex and developed less body fat to sustain them in their hunger and lack of food shipwrecked at sea.This to me was a very emotional tragedy story not a true adventure story. If you can't feel for these people you have no emotions.Two partial boats with a few survivors are rescued after a few months at sea...most dead and eaten by the survivors. One boat found with only 4 skeletons. Three men are left on a small island with only their wits to capture the little food on the island and a spring that goes out under the tide so little or no water, are later rescued.You can imagine what the different families on Nantucket went through after hearing about the Essex sinking and later the survival stories related to cannibalism. Gives me the horrors just thinking about it.Just look at all the 5 star reviews. Lots of other reviewers thought this was a great book. If you want a book that will pull on your emotions and let you develop deep empathy toward the whalers and their families this is the book for you. Again INMO this is not a true adventure book but a deeply emotional tragedy. Also lots of great nautical whaling history before and after the Essex tragedy. 5 stars