The Loss of the Essex

Object summary

Title: The Loss of the Essex
Object ID: AF-WB-0797-2
Date made: 1879
Place made: United States, New York
Publisher: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
Object type: Woodcut
Major collection: Nautical
Named collection: Allan Forbes Collection
On view: No

Description

Magazine clipping of a depiction of a whale, which is spouting, overturning a small rowboat and knocking a large three-masted ship on its side. The men in the rowboat are depicted hanging in midair.

Essex was a Nantucket whaler launched in 1799. In 1820 a sperm whale attacked and sank her, stranding the twenty-man crew in the southern Pacific Ocean without provisions or water. During the 95 days before the survivors were rescued, a total of seven crew members were cannibalized.