Never in the history of whale hunting had a ship been attacked by a whale. But then the unthinkable happened. On November 20, 1820, the whale ship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry whale. Within minutes, the twenty-one man crew, including the fourteen-year-old cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, found themselves stranded in three leaky boats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with barely any supplies and little hope. Three months later, two of the boats were rescued 4,500 miles away, off the coast of South America. Of the twenty-one castaways, only eight survived, including young Thomas. Based on his award-winning bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick recreates the amazing events of the ill-fated Essex, and tells the tale of one of the great true-life adventures.
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“For older readers, Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship
Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick describes a tale worthy of Ahab…Adapted from Philbrick’s bestselling title for
adults, In the Heart of the Sea, the narrative draws from primary
sources, including the account of cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, who joined
the crew at age fourteen.”
—
Publishers Weekly