After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal - Wild Shipwreck and Cannibal Story That Inspired Moby Dick

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

When a whaling ship sank in 1820, her crew were cast adrift thousands of miles from land, and faced starvation, madness, and death. Their ordeal would become one of the most extraordinary survival stories in maritime history… and would become immortalised by Herman Melville's novel, Moby-Dick.This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click here to place your vote! Thank you! https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listener, never fear tis I, Dr. Anthony Delaney from the After Dark podcast. And I am possessing your phone or your car radio or whoever it is that you listen to podcasts to ask you to vote for us in the Listeners' Choice Award at this year's British Podcast Awards. Ooh, it's that time of year again. You can vote for us while you're folding laundry or learning about mass poisonings or while you assemble furniture and contemplate mutiny, which I would mutiny if was assembling furniture, or while you're lost in a graveyard that you thought was going to be a shortcut, but now you find yourself in the bowels of hell.

Either way, you can simply go to www.w.com British Podcastawards.com for slash voting and search after dark. Okay, off you go and do that, and I promise we'll stop possessing your phone. Thank you, love you, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. When a whaling ship sank in 1820, her crew were cast adrift thousands of miles, miles from land. They faced starvation, madness and death. Their ordeal would become one of the most extraordinary survival stories in maritime history and would become immortalised by Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. This is the true story of the Essex and her doomed crew. From the deck of a wailing

ship on the high seas, welcome to After Dark. Hello and welcome to After Dark, I'm Anthony. And I'm Maddie. In 1820, a whale attacked and sank a whaling ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For the crew, this was the beginning of a desperate struggle for survival that would leave most of the crew dead and inspire one of the greatest novels ever written. Apparently, I've never read it. I wouldn't know. We're talking about Moby Dick. I haven't read it either.

I feel like we're terrible people. I don't. I imagine for American listeners, write in, but did you all do it in school? expect that's one of those ones. It's long, right? See, we do a lot of American novels in school in this country that we had to do of Mice and Men, we had to do, I think, the Great Gatsby, but we never did Moby Dick. Personally, I can't read. Well, there is that. I mean, it's a shame. Yeah, it is a bit sad. Do you know much about

the history behind the novel? I know more about that than I do about the novel. Okay, well, they're sort of one and the same, right? Like one inspired the other. So we're in 1819 into 1821. This is a voyage that begins in Nantucket. I love the name. Yes, I have such a sort of aesthetic interest in American coastal things. So Nantucket is an island. It's about 30 miles south of Cape Cod.

I had a friend who did a PhD or when you get whale bones and you carve them, Scrimshaw, which is like a fascinating 19th century thing that people did. And sailors did it and they would sell the little bits and bobs of bone. and she went out to, I think, like Martha's Vineyard and places like that and she went and looked at the whales who are not hunted anymore, thank God. Yeah, fascinating. That's cute. I just think it's such an interesting time.

Well, it's cute now. This is the thing. Wasn't cute. Like as in Nantucket's cute now, but it wasn't cute then. No. It was a much different place than we imagined it to be today. Yeah, so I'll tell you a little bit about the age of whaling. Because, I mean, it was really brutal.

But before we get to that, just give you an impression of the shape of this story. So, like I say, we're in 18. 19 into 1821 and this is a ship called the Essex. Yeah. But I'm just in my head. I'm just hearing it in an Essex accent. I won't do that. How do you say Essex in an Essex accent?

Essex. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Is that an Essex accent? I don't know. I've been cancelled. It's fine. So all my family's from Essex.

It's sounded like a little witch. No, but it did. Her. Were there, um, Essex Witch trials? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. There's a whole Essex Museum.

Yeah. Like, it's quite a big thing. Now, right, we digressing. You can tell that I've only just come back to the park because what's happening? Okay, so the Essex is a whale ship and it's out in the Pacific Ocean and on the 20th of November 1820. So we're a few months into its voyage. It is rammed by a sperm whale. More than once.

Yeah, which is really unusual. So we'll get into the kind of encounters between people and whales that were being had in this moment. And there was violence on both sides. but both sides of the whale and the ship I'm fully on the side of the whale in every scenario here

but this big ship the Essex is rammed multiple times by a whale a vengeful angry whale and they decamped to little boats some of them survive and then it all goes

really tits up and spoiler alert our favourite topic oh god he's gone full Hannibal it's cannibalism It's cannibalism. It's cannibalism with a nice Kianti and some father beans. Have I seen that movie? Yeah, I have.

Surely. No, I have, I have. Absolute masterpiece of horror. Anthony Hopkins, hideous in that. Right. Okay. So you mentioned that we have this industry that is happening. And, you know, this isn't quaint, Nantuk as we know it now.

Talk to me a little bit about what this industry looks like at this time. Yes, so whaling is at its peak in the sort of late 18th century into the mid-19th century. And it is incredibly brutal. So it's a huge industry. Whale oil was used in things like lamps, soap. Now, in my notes it says machinery lubrication. And I'm assuming that there is not a comma missing, that it's machinery, comma, lubrication. I'm assuming it's lubrication for the machinery because nobody wants to use that from the whale.

Sperm ascertain oil, which is from sperm whales, was the highest in demand because basically you could burn it. And it created like a clean, bright flame. And it didn't have the kind of green. see smell and it wouldn't turn like your walls black and things. So it was high quality. That's one of the things of that time period that freaks me out, that smell that they often talk about that they're getting. It's on you. It's in your hair. I mean, I think it's one thing that we forget about so much of history just in terms of like burning candles, not even oil in this period. Like you think about, like tallow candles and stuff. If you've ever burned a tallow candle,

they stink. They really stink. You just think about the constant smell that people would have lived with. And, you know, think about the 18th and 19th century, you would have to pay more to have candles that didn't smell. So if you were not the wealthiest people in society, you would be living with this constant stench in your home and you're using oil as well as candles. So yeah, smelly times. By the 1840s and 50s, there were hundreds of whaling ships going out from the coast to America. And it's, I mean, it's really lucrative industry. It's a very dangerous one as we're going to find out. The whales are not taking this lying down, swimming around. they're fighting back

and good for them and of course there are instances of as I say these kind of violent moments in which the animals take not kindly

to being attacked and killed but this particular story is one that seers itself into the cultural imagination and of course it ends up being the inspiration

for Melville's Moby Dick which neither of us have read. I will read it after this episode actually. This history has really inspired me. I love the history. I love this history, but I don't care about that book. But you don't love a 19th century novel.

No, I like a 19th century. Now, because, you know, I love the Bronty's. I was going to say, favorite 19th century novel? Wuthering Heights. Jane Eyre. Yeah, no, I prefer Wuthering. But also, picture drawing gray. Boring. It is boring. I'm not an Oscar while fan. I know, I know that you love him. I'm Irish and gay. I have to. I don't get a choice. The law. Yeah. Picture drawing gray, no. The plays love. Fantastic. Oh. Yeah. No, no, not my. gig. But I also like some of the children's stories more than that. I've not read the children's stories. Maybe I should give those a gay, but you'll like those. You're like those. Annoying. It's like just get on with it. Yeah, it's because

you're not a closet of gay man reading it in your teenage years. Yeah, it's, it didn't touch my soul at the moment. That spins different when you're that. Yeah. Anyway, what happens in Moby Dick then? That's a very good question. According to my notes. Okay, so interestingly, Herman Melville did begin his career as a sailor on whaling ships. So this is a world he absolutely knew. He's a little bit later than this story, but as we're going to find out, he just meets some of the people who survive it. But so he knew about the Essex disaster and it becomes this direct kind of foundation for the novel. So in the novel, the novel version, this isn't exactly what happens in the real history. It's set around the crew of a whaling ship that's led famously by Captain Ahab. Must have

heard of Captain Ahab. No, I haven't. Genuinely. I know, I know. You're right to make that face in my direction. This is genuinely surprising me. No. You're too busy reading the picture of Bloody Dorian Gray. I've only read it twice, but no, I like... Twice is too many times. Okay, so Ahab has this kind of, he's like this maverick character and he has this dark reputation

and he has had this kind of previous run in with a great white whale, this kind of weird, mythical, strange creature, which bit his leg off. Oh. Which, you know, fair. So he has this kind of hatred to this animal. It's giving Peter Pan. Oh, interesting. Yeah, there's a little bit. Anyway, sorry, go on.

Yeah. So he only has one leg and... I wonder if there's a J.M. Barry Melville... Barry's later, right? He's later. He's towards the end of the 19th, early 20th century, isn't he? But anyway, so Ahab wants to get this whale and avenge his leg and the white whale wants to finish him off. I can't say that. You've said it. Don't take it out. Leave it in.

She has to say the white whale wants to finish him off. I'm leaving it in. The white sperm whale want to finish him off. Oh, Jesus Christ. The maturity levels are so high on this. Ahab finds the whale. He harpoons him. And it dives down to bottom of the ocean.

But it takes Ahab with him. Spoiler alert, if you haven't yet. Read the novel. He drowns at the end. Oh, okay. Not the whale. So he sort of dies. It's this big climax and he dies with the whale, essentially.

But the real history is darker, scarier, weirder. Yes. Okay, so we have the story of Moby Dick in the background there. We can just ignore that. Now we get to the really interesting stuff, which is the Essex itself. Now, you have converted me over the years to nautical naval sea history. I never gave a shit. Now I do. I love them now. Literally, you can't. I went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich recently. For the first time in many years, God, it's good. You used to live in store. You did, didn't you? If you haven't been. go. And I literally went crazy in the gift shop with the nautical books. I was like, yep, yep, yep, yeah. Brilliant. Absolutely fantastic. Yeah, so let's get into this. The Essex, this is to give you a sense of how big these ships were, because obviously they're going after Wales. Wales, one thing we know about them, big. Yes. Technical term, spermium big. Wow. So the Essex,

and I've been given some very helpful statistics by producer Tom. Go on. The Essex was 87 feet, long which is 27 metres. Hold on. 27 meters is a big ship. Sure. It also weighed 238 tonnes, which Tom has converted for some reason into stone. I go on. I know stone more. How many stone?

37,000, 478 stone. 37,000 is a dome. Yeah. That was me at the end of pregnancy. So it's designed to go out in the South Pacific Ocean, which is a full of sperm whale. So it's a big ship going out to do this really difficult job. Whaling voyages. Have a guess how long they lasted.

This surprised me. You'd think months. Yeah. I was going to say months. Years. Two to four years. So you are committing. And how many whales, I wonder, are they killing in that time?

What are they doing with them? Where are they taking them? So my understanding is that they harpoon them, kill them in the water. Multiple harpoons. And they go out from the big boat and the little boats to do that, right? Yes, they go out in the little boats to do that. And then they are cutting them up in the water. So literally climbing on.

them and cutting them and then bringing large parts of them onto the big vessel. Don't like it. And presumably then converting them to oil rather than taking, or are they just taking the blubber home? We don't know. Maybe a producer will tell us an idea. They can't be storing those for like a year. They're obviously selling them at different ports as they go, are they? That ship must have stunk.

Yeah. I think they're storing it a lot. I think they're out. I mean, they can't be out of two or two to four years on the sea continuously, surely not. But maybe they'd sink what just based on being out there for. All the blubber. Piling up in the ship, just shitload of fat. Just coming back into harbour, just gradually going down the water, like four years like to quit.

They had a good voyage there. They're nearly drowning. They're nearly drowning. So with the Essex specifically, we start to get things going a little bit wrong. It's a pretty brutal voyage straight away. There are loads of storms and severe weather. Not unusual in the Pacific, but they do run into a lot of difficulty. It's in Bad Nick.

The Essex is not a good neck. They do things like the rations, you know, they're trying to stretch them. and they end up adding Galapagos tortoises to their rations because, you know, they need food and they see the big tortoises. They're big, the Galapas ones are like the massive ones, aren't they? And they're like, yes, we'll eat those. Which always just makes think of Charles Darwin.

Didn't he have one of the Galapagos tortoises? So cute as well. They live for ages. Didn't the one who belonged to Darwin die like 10 years ago or something? I love stories of that where you have like a weird perception of time and often you get that with animals. Is it the Greenland shark that can live to like 400? hundred years old or something, which is mad.

It's just knocking around under the ice and it could have like, I mean, it didn't witness any of these things. It was still knocking around in the ice. But it knew Henry Ease. But it knew him personally. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Things start to go so wrong that some of the crew start to think that this ship might be cursed. And it's one thing that I love about sort of nautical maritime culture is just how superstitious it is. There are lots of bits of damage to the ship, as you said. And, you know, lots of repairs are done. And there's just like bad luck after bad luck. And people are like, hmm, don't. love this for us on our two to four year commitment contract.

Would you like to meet some of the people aboard? Yes, I actually would. Okay, I've convinced you this is an interesting history. Well done me. Okay, so we have the captain who is 29 when the voyage begins, which is young. George Pollard, Jr. He is going to survive. He's going to do quite well.

There is Owen Chase, who is the first mate. Then we have the second mate, Matthew Joy. I'm loving some of these surnames, Chase, George. They're fun. He survives the sinking, but he also dies afterwards of a short illness. So that's not great. Possibly, I would argue maybe. I don't know what the illness is, but I'm guessing maybe related to the circumstances they're going to live through because this isn't great.

Then there is Thomas Nickerson. He's the cabin boy. And he also writes an account of what happens. He's young. I don't know exactly how old. I think they have almost 10, not quite 10, but from what I remember, it's quite a few teenagers are on board. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a young crew. Research at the moment in ships that were transporting people and goods around the British Isles in kind of the same moment, actually.

And it really surprised me when you look at the sort of records of different wrecks that actually cabin boys often on these smaller ships, the sons of the captain. Right. Which is super interesting. And often they're either the ones who die with the captain because they're obviously go to their dad or they're often the ones who survive with the captain because the captain prioritises them over the people because it's their. child, which is interesting. But in this case, Thomas Nixon, as far as I know, he's not related to anyone on board, but he's the cabin boy. And, you know, for a young boy, he's going to see some shit. Then there are Lawrence and Seth Weeks, who are part of the crew, presumably brothers. And they also survive. Then we have Charles Ramsdoll, who's a sailor. He's remembered for surviving the longest and harshest conditions that are going to come on this voyage. So he has a really

difficult time. So that is the scene set. That's the shit that we're aboard. And we're going to get into some whale hunting now. Well, my favorite thing about this history is that the whale attack, which we're about to, is not the interesting thing about this. It's the beginning of what unfolds. Yeah. So it's like, it starts with a whale attack. It's a remarkable event and then things just go downhill from here. So, I mean, look, good for this whale. Good for the whale. You know, this is, as we say, it's completely brutal. They're harpooning them.

It's vile. It's violent. This whale is not having it. So we have the Essex itself. Some people are still aboard the big ship. We have some people in the smaller boats. Now, they've lost some of the smaller boats, haven't they, at this point? Earlier, yeah.

Because of all the bad luck that they've had and the bad weather and all of that. So they only have a smaller number of the small boats. They've decamped into those. It's about six to eight men in each one with the harpoons at the ready. And they go after this whale. Now, it was not unknown for whales to retaliate and attack the smaller boats. And you can understand how people might get knocked out of them or they might get smashed or whatever. If this creature is writhing around in the water trying to escape, that, you know, you can see that happening a lot.

However, it is more unusual for these whales to attack the big ship. And this is what happens here. And this is, I mean, it's really bizarre animal behavior from a sort of more. point of view as humans were like, yeah, we can see why this would happen. But it is incredibly unusual in terms of the natural world. This animal goes to the ship not once but twice and strikes the side of it. It sort of head buzzes into it. The fact that it comes back. I love that detail. Yeah. It's like an orca attack with posh people's yachts, right? Like, a what attack? An orca. Oh, yes, yes, yes. You know, orca's ever heard of them? Yeah. In my head, I was thinking

Lord of the Rings. I was like, why is she talking about? She's just kind of a Lord of the Rings tangent. But, orca, yes, not orc. Are orcas, the orcs of the maritime world? Discuss in the comments. So, yeah, this he, the whale. Maybe it's a she. I mean, pop off queen. They hit the side.

Let's not, you know, let's not make assumptions. Hit the side of the ship multiple times. Causes enough damage that the ship begins to sink. We are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's not going well, lads. I have an image for you to take a look at. And this is, I mean, it sort of looks like, I mean, it is a child's drawing. It's a drawing by the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, around about 1820 when this attack happens or shortly after.

It is a pencil sketch showing the scene and the moment in which this whale attacks. And it, I mean, it's obviously a horrendous moment for these people's experience, but this kind of looks like when your kid comes home from school and they're like, I did this picture. And you're like, great, I'll put this on the fridge. Now I will say... It's very detailed. The ship is nicely rendered. Yeah. It's got its masts.

It's a three masty thingy. It's got... That is the technical term. Yes, thank you. But what's the hilarious thing about it is that just in front of it, about to ram it with its big old nose as a sperm whale. And look at its little cute fin that it's that he's drawn on the side. That's so cute. And his little cute quail tail is so cute as well.

It does have angry teeth, though, to be fair. It does. It does. Now, what the other thing is, interesting, is that you see that what you just described many about the little boats in the water around. So there's some people on the big boat. There's some people on the little boats. And some of the whales.

And it looks like the tiny whales. Yeah, yeah, around it as well. But I think this, what Thomas is trying to maybe communicate here, I think, is it's the scale of the whale that hits the ship, right? Because there are these kind of smaller whales that they're attacking in the small boats. And then this big beast comes out of nowhere. and you can kind of get this sort of Moby Dick impression of the big white whale. We have a quote from one of the people on board called Owen West,

who gives a first hand account as a survivor. And I'm going to get you to read it for us, please. I turned around and saw him, the whale, about 100 rods or 500 metres directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed of about 24 knots. That's about 44 kilometres per hour, apparently. and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent thrashing of his tail.

His head about half out of the water. And in that way he came upon us and again struck the ship. All right, Owen, that's drama, isn't it? I love it. So this creature seems to be, I mean, they're sort of anthropomorphising it. Yeah, totally. They're talking about fury and vengeance. Yeah, we know what he's feeling.

Yeah, but I also think, and you know, this is presumably, having not read it, something that I imagine is kind of at the center of maybe Dick, right, this idea of this sort of human animal relationship and that there's this intimacy between the hunter and the hunted. And when that relationship is flipped, there's a sort of a strange connection between man and beast that is going to be hard to escape from or extradite yourself away from, especially if you're stuck out in the ocean. And yeah, this is not a novel, though. This is what really happened. This occurred. And that's what's amazing about it. And it's that thing of going that Owen here and the lads talking amongst themselves in the immediate aftermath of this, well, or in the months and weeks afterwards, they are

creating a monster and they're creating an adversary for themselves. And it makes them more interesting that they survive this bigger. Well, listen, I'm sure it was absolutely dreadful. Of course it would have been. but they are creating a monster here. Yeah. And ironically, as we're going to find out, it's the human dangers that are going to be,

you know, it's the dangers within themselves and there are the crewmates the problem. And the great thing about this is, with a great thing, but the interesting thing about this is, you would imagine that we're going to say a great after dark tradition and 28 people were killed.

But no, like the crew, this isn't that unusual. Well, it's unusual in the ferocity. But whale attacks happen. They are prepared for this. And so the crew escaped. Yes, they do. Yes. So the ship is damaged. They realize very quickly it can't be saved. Yeah. And that it is going to go down. Along with all the blubber they've presumably harvested over the last few months. And the turtles, which are pretty really dead at that point. So, you know, I don't think they're like knocking round on the deck, aren't they? Some of them were. Yeah. No, they kept them alive. Well, oh yeah, yeah. And they were held captive.

Sorry, what a surreal scene. Galapagos turtles on deck of a ship that's being ramped by a giant whale. They kept some of them as pets and then downstated. down under, in the deck downstairs. In the deck, down under deck, they had below deck. They had hundreds of them in little, it's very sad to imagine. They're really, really contained. And loads of them end up dying anyway because of the situation. Fair enough.

Can you imagine if you're a tortoise that's been taken from the Galapagos and you're below deck on a ship and then suddenly a whale's coming at you. You must be like, thanks, mate. Yeah, thank you. But also, what the fuck is happening? Okay, so they've only got three of these smaller boats left and the crew that's surviving jump into them without much thought or planning.

They're just quick lads we need to escape. They set off quickly away from the whale. Because, you know, you're floating now vulnerably in this small boat and there's this huge creature who is described as, what is it, vengeful and furious just beneath you. I mean, you must have been very aware that, you know, row quickly. and for two days they managed to float away, but they've salvaged some supplies from the ship as it's sinking. There's not enough.

And so they need to make a decision about where they're going to go, which direction land is in, what their best bet of survival is. You know, they're out on the open ocean. They make some weird decisions. There are some Pacific islands that are relatively nearby to them. And we do have a map here where you can see the sort of, the journey that they're taking from November when they're attacked into December as they're floating on the small boats trying to survive. And you can see there's a smattering of islands that they could have gone to to try and find food and help. But in classic colonial mindset

culture, they decide that they're too afraid of, quote unquote, the cannibalistic indigenous islanders of the Pacific that they don't want to stop on these islands and ask for help, which is ironic considering what is going to come later on. And so they decide that they're going to set out on a 4,000 mile voyage rather than talk to the indigenous people to try and get to the mainland of South America and survive that way. It's not going to go that well. So I know that they have navigational tools with them because they grabbed them before the ship went down, but I'm presuming they also have... Would you think to do that? In that circumstance, yeah, right? Because you're going to be trained for that.

It's that thing about putting on your high-vis jacket when the fire alarm goes off. It's just like, I'm doing it. Like, that's what I do. I grab my navigational tools. You know what I mean? Like, I'm being glib. Sure. You know what I'm saying.

And somebody will be assigned to do that. But they also will have had to get food. Yeah. But they're in three relatively small boats and they're all still alive for now. And so do they have enough? Yeah. I mean, obviously they're doing this 4,000 mile voyage, like they're going to need to stop at some point and resupply. But while they're in the boats, they have a day.

They have a daily ration per man of half a pint of water. That's a barrels of water that they've got with them. That's their water. That's all they have got. And they have ships biscuits, which, you know, are kind of tough, grim little things. They weigh £1, 3 ounces each. They're allowed one of those a day. Oh, it's tight. Yeah, it's not looking good.

So we're in November when the initial incident with the ship going down happens. Now we're moving to December. So they, for an entire month, the boats are just full. floating around trying to find somewhere to land on this voyage, just trying to survive. And eventually they come to an island called Henderson Island, which, as far as they can tell, is uninhabited. And this seems like they're saved. I mean, they're still a long way from anything else. They're really out in the Pacific still, so they can't stay here forever. And I'll talk about that in a second, because I think that's an interesting point. But they literally,

I mean, you can see it in your mind's eye, so cinematic sort of pulling the boats up onto the sand, and they find fresh water. There are birds. There are eggs that the birds are laying. There are edible plants. So they've managed to survive. They've found this little sort of resource. So interestingly, if anyone remembers our bounty episode, HMS Bounty is a mutiny that takes

place, which is in the 1780s, 1789. I don't know if anyone remembers from that. The survivors there, the mutineers, some of them make it to pit Cairn Island, which is also in the Pacific. It's only 120 miles away. and in 1821 when this is happening, we're in 1820 going into 1821 now, one of the bounty mutineers, John Adams, who's one of the founders of Pitcairn, is still alive. So it's an interesting kind of crossover of, you know, two of the biggest, most important, impactful and disastrous voyages in this period.

However, so we've got these three boats. We've made it to Henderson Island. There are 20 men across three boats. They're not going to survive on this island for long. aren't going to support a community of 20 men. So after a week, 17 of those men decide to go. Three of them do stay. That's interesting, isn't it?

I wonder if they picked them to stay because they were weakest or because they were, there'll have been a practical reason. Surely. I mean, they make the decision to stay on the understanding that they're going to be rescued at some point, presumably when their colleagues have gone to the mainland and then you're really trusting your crewmates. there. They do go, spoiler, they do come back for them. Yeah, they do. But

they could have easily... They go wrong first, but then they can match them. Yeah. A lot of stuff's going to happen in the queen. Would you rather at this point knowing what's coming, stay on the island. Stay on the island. Stay on the island. Yeah. You've got your birds there because you got your fresh water. Got some sunshine. I don't need to be in the boat. Thank you. Yeah. It's the wrong choice to go on the boat. I mean, someone has to, so the other people are rescued. Yeah. So we're grateful to those people. Don't want to be on the boat. So 17 of them now set off. They're going for South America. from Henderson Island, this is huge, huge, of expanse of ocean they need to cross.

Inevitably, they can't take that many supplies with them. And so it doesn't take that long into their voyage, these three boats, they become separated. The sea is rough. So we now have three separate groups going their separate ways, vaguely heading for South America with some instruments shared between the boats. Do they all know where they're going? Have they made a plan? Unclear.

Now, dehydration is setting in, starvation is setting in. And in January 1821, and bearing in mind they were only on Henderson Island in December 1820. So it's only another month in. They make the decision to cannibalize some of the people on board. Now, they've died first, right? In the first instance. Okay. At first, yes.

Yes. So there are people who die. And this is taking place across the three boats as well, which is... remarkable that, you know, they all turn to this. Yes, at first people are just dying of exposure, starvation, dehydration, and those who are left behind feel they have little choice, but in order to survive, they have to eat the bodies of their colleagues. But inevitably, you eat one person, you're still stuck on a boat. You've got to eat something else after that. There are some quotes from Owen Chase, who is he the first mate? I think he's the first mate.

And also from Thomas Nickerson, who is the little cabin boy. So Owen Chase says, quite calmly, we were obliged to sustain life by feeding upon the bodies of our dead companions. That is a sentence. Yeah. Thomas Nickerson, however, young child at the time writing afterwards gives a slightly more colourful version of events. Do you want to read what he says? I have no language to paint the horrors of our situation. Yeah.

I mean, you can imagine the impact that's going to have on him for the rest of his life, having seen this and taken part in it. Okay, so at first we have people dying naturally, inevitably, though, some people are going to have to die in order to be eaten. And what is interesting is that in the boat that's been commanded by Owen Chase, who we know survives, we have his written records, those survivors decide to draw lots to decide who's going to be sacrificed. This is crazy. Yeah. I mean, you can't fathom being in that scenario. And also, you'd be bristling with sort of the fear and the sense of danger from everyone. You're stuck very close together in this small boat.

The threat of violence where there is no escape, you can't jump into the water, you can't run away. You're fearing yourself who you're turning into. You're fearing the people around you. I just, I mean, this is, it's so interesting. and so dark. So they draw lots. And now the person who unfortunately draws the unlucky lot, if you were him, you'd know that you were going to be the one to die because his name was Owen Coffin. Great name. Great name. Great name. So he's Pollard's cousin, the captain, Pollard. And he draws the unlucky lot and he, you know, there's sort of a sigh of relief of everyone else. Now Pollard, who is in the

boat as well, says, I'll take a place because he's the captain. He's like, I'm not going to let my cousin die. But no, Owen Coffin is like, no, ask my name, Sir Jess. I'm popping off. I'm going to do this. And I wonder, I mean, thank God, we would never have to experience this now or have to ask these questions. But I wonder if there's something about the 19th century mindset compared to our modern day mindset in terms of like the nobility of this sacrifice. He's willing to do this. Would you be willing to? I'd be willing to do it. Well, it comes down to whether you'd rather be eaten or eat someone. I'd rather be eaten.

Yeah. I think, because I need not know anything about it. Use me. Yeah. So they, they, poor old Owen Coffin, they shoot him. At least it's quick. You know, quick and dignified, is. And then they do eat him, which is pretty grim.

Captain Pollard tells us about this moment. Read his lines, please, because... So this is who? This is the captain. This is the captain, yeah. We looked at each other with horrid thoughts. in our minds, but we held our tongues. I'm sure we loved one another as brothers all the time, yet our looks told plainly what must be

done. And then he ends his account with, I can tell you no more. My head is on fire with the recollection. I hardly know what I say. That's after the fact as well, you know. That's him looking back over this. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

So we have six people in total who are eaten, which is kind of mad. I mean, it gives you a scale of how long this voyage is taking. And also you'd think that a human being would go further than this. Like, they'd get through them. How long does a person last to eat? Don't know the answer to that, unsurprisingly. So we have two of the people who die naturally, and that's Isaac Cole and Barzalai Ray. Barzalai, is how we're saying?

That's a great name. Yeah, sure. Owen Coffin is shot. And we have three others who are written, which is Samuel Reed, Charles Shorter, and Lawson Thomas. Lawson Thomas is a great name. Great names there. All eaten, all consumed. So this is not the end of the story.

We know that people are going to survive. Cut to the 18th of February 1821. So a few days ago they're eating people. We are now 89 days at sea with Owen Chase's boat. Jesus. And a British whaling boat comes across them in the ocean. And three people are still aboard. it's Owen Chase, who we know survives, we have his written record.

Nickerson, the cabin boy, and Lawrence, someone called Lawrence. And they are taken aboard the boat. They have survived, woo. I mean, I think that would be fascinating to be on the British wailing boat and to come across them and to just see the haunted looks in their eyes. The 23rd of February, an American winged boat called Dauphin discovers the second of the small boats. Two men that are aboard that are George Pollard, the captain. Oh, yeah.

And Charles Ramsdell. There's only two of them left. And in the boat are the picked clean bones of all of their colleagues who they've eaten. I do think it's fascinating that they keep the bones though. Oh yeah. Why wouldn't you just for burial? No, do you know what I bet you is?

I don't know. Are they wanting to eat the marrow? They're taking as much out of it as they can. They're sucking on bones, I bet you. Yeah. They're getting, they just need anything. Oh, that's bleak. I don't know.

I've just made that up. I think that's probably accurate. Then what happens? Wow. I'm just going to sit. with that for a minute. That's intense. On the 9th of April, 1821, you'll be glad to hear. This would be you. The Henderson Island survivors are rescued. Yeah, because they're smart and they stayed post.

Yeah, this is four months. Four months they've been there at this point. All three of them are alive. That's William Wright, Seth Weeks, another great name. And Thomas Chapel. So in total, there are 20 men who survived the initial sinking of the Essex. Eight are left standing at the end. Hey, do you know what? It's not about considering how... Would you want to take those odds? I don't know.

No. Yeah, I know what you mean. But I can imagine a world where there's only three of them left or something. Do you know what I mean? So this then... So the Vieter rescued and then they obviously come back to shores and then come back to their own homes in America eventually. And then this captures the imagination of bloody everybody.

Yeah. And then we get... Of which I can imagine... Come on. That's a rollicking old tale. I'm sort of fascinated by how many of the survivors of the eight do write and sell accounts. Let's be clear, you know, they're making money from this. We have Pollard's account.

We've got Owen Chase. We've got the cabin boy as well. And, you know, good luck to them. They've been through this horrible thing. We know that Captain Pollard, he goes back to Nantucket. People there blame him for the sinking, the initial sinking, which is a bit unfair. I mean, a whale literally rammed his boat multiple times. But there's a sense that it was kind of mismanaged.

He never, as far as I'm aware, goes back to see he works the rest of his career as a night watchman on the land. So I think this is amazing. In 1852, Herman Melville goes to meet Captain Pollard to ask him about the Essex. I would love to write that scene in which Melville, who's kind of, you know, hungry for information and a good story, sitting down with this captain who is presumably reticent to talk about it, you know, and as we've heard in his words in this episode, sort of, you know, even years later, struggling to articulate what happened. That would just be, that's the best opening to a film or a novel or something, isn't it? He dies in 1870.

Who does? Pollard. It's the living with that. Yeah. Is the weird thing. Yeah, and living with having cannibalized. I mean, there's no coming back from that, really, having cannibalized your friends and colleagues. Yeah, so Owen Chase, who is the first mate, who survives and we have his.

account, which he publishes in 1821, which is the same year he's been cannibalizing people. So, like, he moves quickly on that deadline, you know, to make a book. He makes a lot of money and he has a successful life. He goes back to whaling. I mean, that's, I suppose you don't have a choice if that's what your trade is. But, like, it would take some courage to go back out to see, to face those creatures and that sea and that circumstance again. But he goes on to be a successful captain.

But he is deeply haunted, as you would imagine, by what happens. and he has these periods of sort of mental breaks or mental decline and he hoards food in his attic. So he's sort of, you know, obviously so scared of starving to death and that trauma and those sort of behaviours. And, you know, all of that is clearly, I mean, bubbling up under the surface and at times in his life is kind of breaking through. And you can, I mean, you can imagine that. He dies the year before Pollard does in 1869. And yeah, I just think that is. It must have been so sad to have to carry that trauma for the rest of their lives.

And I wonder what they thought of Melville writing, Moby Dick, whether they were happy. I mean, obviously in Chase's case, he's published his own account. So he's not afraid of what happened being in print. He's done that himself. But yeah, I just wonder if they were happy with the sort of novelization of that. Has this going over this history tempted you to even? Moby Dick or no. Yeah, absolutely.

Yes, I think so. I'm sort of interested, I suppose the thing when Moby Dick is it's the whale that is such an important character. Aside from the cannibalism, and there's so much made of that and again, that kind of human animal conflict and the sort of strange,

you know, being locked in this strange struggle with a beast, which kind of interests me. Because I do think, I mean, if the whale had never rammed the Essex, none of this history would have happened. They would have just killed the whale or killed another whale and got on with it,

and these people would be lost to history. We wouldn't know about them. And it's that strange animal behavior. I don't know how many times in history there are moments of odd animal behavior that then changes the course of history or who is remembered. I'd love to maybe think about some more episodes on that.

But I think that is the case here. If this whale hadn't made that strange decision or rammed the ship for whatever reason and we'll never know the reason, then we wouldn't know the names of these people. Maybe Dick would never have been written. And you and I would never have not written. edit. There we get. I want the whales account. So we have all of these crew members things,

but I want in the whale's own words. I want the whale film where it's just set entirely underwater and the ship and every, all the other characters are just sort of like blurry blobs above the water and you never really see them. Right. I need to go and take a nap now. I'm really tired. Yeah, I'm really tired. I'm just getting really tired. It's lunchtime now. We need to go and eat something. Seems really early for lunch, but yeah. I'll leave you with the words of Herman Melville. Oh, go on. Sorry. I was like, I'm tired about it. I'm done.

She still has script. Wow. Melville says of the Essex story, it's a wondrous story upon which to found a romance. Eh? Yeah. I don't like it. Not like a sexy romance.

No, I wanted to be a sexy romance. Heated rivalry on board the Essex. With Wales. Have you ever seen heated rivalry? No. I've literally watched no TV at the moment. It's very sad for me. I don't know why I'm talking about this.

This is ridiculous. Okay. So I need to watch heated rivalry. You need to read Moby Dick. The end. Moby rivalry. He's a dick. He's a dick.

On that note, thank you for joining us. Okay, if you've enjoyed this episode, or you have a suggestion for an episode of an animal that's changed the course of history. I love that. I really want to do that. Get in touch. You can write to us at afterdark and historyhit.com.