Wreck Related to Moby Dick Found in Hawaiian Waters

You think you have bad luck... read on.

THIS is a bad day at work.

Most people know the story of Moby Dick. Fewer know that the fictional classic was based on real-life events. In 1820, the Nantucket whale ship, the Essex, was attacked and ultimately sunk by a whale. Independent crew accounts attest to the premeditated actions of the whale, which was the dramatic element that inspired Herman Melville's man-vs-nature fictional whale-tale.

Captain George Pollard, Jr. was in charge of the Essex when it went to its watery depths. He and 20 of the original 21-man crew set out in the remaining 3 whale boats. Several months later, 5 men were picked up in the only remaining whale boat. Their tale of survival included hunger, severe thirst, scurvy and cannibalism. The account is told in greater detail in the well-written, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.

Captain Pollard was one of the 8 survivors (3 others were later found on an otherwise uninhabited island). Remarkably, given the controversy surrounding the Essex shipwreck, he was given the charge of another whale ship, the Two Brothers. Unfortunately his luck followed him to his next assignment. After rounding the Cape Horn and making his way to the warmer, tropical waters of Hawaii, the ship was over taken by a small storm and drove into the shallow reef of the French Frigate Shoals. Captain Pollard, shocked by his poor luck, was reluctant to leave his ship. He was finally convinced by his crew to let the ship go and he abandoned his post.

Despite the relatively shallow depths (25-35 feet), the wreck of the Two Brothers was never found. Until last week. Researchers made the official announcement this week that was the culmination of over three years of research and diving archaeology. Detailed research verified that the various artifacts recovered from the wreck site discovered in 2008 was that of the Two Brothers.

History documents that after his second shipwreck, Captain Pollard opted for the much quieter career of a night-watchman on Nantucket. We now can add the inventory of the last ship he captained to the historical references of this influential period of Hawaiian history.

*****

The well-researched and gripping account of the voyage of the Essex provides a thorough and fascinating look into this 100-year period of early American history.

For anyone who has an interest in American history, whaling, commerce or the unbreakable resolve of the human spirit in the face of insurmountable obstacles, I highly recommend In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's available at Amazon.com by following this link: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.



To see the full account on the website of the Papahanaumokuakea National Marine National Monument of the find of the Two Brothers wreck, click here.

And of course:

Whale Kitsch

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