---
product_id: 221186
title: "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex"
price: "€ 23.80"
currency: EUR
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reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/221186-in-the-heart-of-the-sea-the-tragedy-of-whaleship
store_origin: PT
region: Portugal
---

# In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex [Philbrick, Nathaniel] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Review: A tragety at Sea. Heart goes out to the whalers and their families. Resort to cannabilizm to survive. - 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
Review: A Great Story of Survival - 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.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #9,188 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #5 in Ship History (Books) #7 in Expeditions & Discoveries World History (Books) #40 in U.S. State & Local History |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (7,725) |
| Dimensions  | 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches |
| Edition  | Reissue |
| ISBN-10  | 0141001828 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0141001821 |
| Item Weight  | 10.6 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 320 pages |
| Publication date  | May 1, 2001 |
| Publisher  | Penguin Books |

## Images

![In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71q1ivP-SoL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A tragety at Sea. Heart goes out to the whalers and their families. Resort to cannabilizm to survive.
*by T***N on June 24, 2011*

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

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Great Story of Survival
*by R***L on June 18, 2001*

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.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Don’t pass this by
*by J***G on January 8, 2026*

I’m so glad I discovered this book. So well written. Such an amazing story. I can’t wait to read it again. I completed this book in its entirety in 3 days.

## Frequently Bought Together

- In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
- Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
- The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party

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*Store origin: PT*
*Last updated: 2026-03-21*