Shipwreck of the whaleship Essex is the gripping account of a ship's encounter with a great white whale and the crew's harrowing plight for survival on the open seas. This edition contains Owen Chase's originaI 1821 narrative, as well as two others written by the captain and a shipmate of the Essex. Each tells of a sperm whale's attack on the ship, the sinking of the Essex, and the three dreadful months that followed as the remainder of the crew were left stranded in a few small open boats in the South Seas. Of the twenty men that escaped the ship, eight survived; and they did so only by resorting to cannibalism. Capturing all the elements of an ancient and powerful tragedy, this book is a thrilling tale of survival-as well as a frightful examination of man's darkest impulses-which allows the reader a gruesome glimpse behind the theatrical veil of honor and bravery that history often ascribes to such men of the sea. An agé-old gem of maritime lore, this volume has made its mark as an inspiration for one of the most legendary American novels ever written. Includes a facsimile of Melville's notes on Chase's narrative.