by Nathaniel Philbrick
The inspiration for "Moby Dick" is part textbook but
all adventure
Reviewed by: William K. Wolfrum
About William K. Wolfrum
As a one-time commercial fisherman and perpetual avid reader, it was as
if Nathaniel Philbrick wrote "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of
the Whaleship Essex" just for me. I guess that's just the way it is
with any book that truly captures your imagination, but the beauty is
that for us all, it feels like a unique experience between reader and
writer.
"In the Heart of the Sea" is the best, most readable, non-fiction book
I've ever read. It's the compelling story of how a crew of whalers left
the shores of Nantucket under a new captain on a whaleship called the
Essex. Philbrick's remarkable research gives you a taste of America in
the early 1800s that both delights and shocks.
The inspiration for Melville's epic "Moby Dick," "In the Heart of the
Sea," is an easily readable textbook/storybook that brings up
monumental moral questions. "How far would you go to survive?" chief
among them.
In a brief synopsis, 20 whalers head out on the Essex, during a time
when whaling was a lucrative, burgeoning business. It is an ill-fated,
problematic trip from the start, only to be made light-years worse when
the Essex is repeatedly rammed by a huge sperm whale. The Essex takes
its watery grave and 19 men (one lucky crewman had deserted earlier)
take to harpoon boats with little to eat or drink.
The three boats would be adrift for 93 days, except for a few days at a
fairly deserted island (where three of the whalers decided to stay).
With land often only a scant hundred miles away, the boats took a
3,000-mile journey. With their food gone and crewmates falling ill and
into madness, choices for survival are made.
Philbrick handles it all at a fast, readable pace. This is no "Moby
Dick" in terms of literature in a grand, nearly undecipherable scale.
What "In the Heart of the Sea" is, however, is a book that grabs you
and holds you until the bitter end, as you slowly discover who survived
and why.
This book got to me because I could relate to the situation. But others
I know who have read it love it for other reasons. It is a chance to
time travel to a long-forgotten era. It is a high-seas, swashbuckling,
real-life adventure. Simply put, it is a hell of a ride.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Copyright © by William K. Wolfrum, 2002
Reviewed by William K. Wolfrum:
-- Ender's Game - by Orson Scott Card
-- In the Heart of the Sea - by Nathaniel Philbrick
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