Nantucket Daily News 

Whaling Expedition turns into a death trap

June 12th, 1821

After nearly eleven months of being stranded out at sea,

the exhausted sailors of the Essex finally returned from their
whaling expedition. The Essex set out on August 12th, 1820
carrying 20 men, George Pollard Jr. leading the ship with first
mate Owen Chase. After three months, they had only one whale,
and the expedition was looking disappointing. Captain Pollard,
through the persuasion of the other sailors, decided to head
towards South America, in hopes of better whaling. On November
20th 1820, several whales were spotted. One of them appeared to
be aiming for the ship. Estimated at 80 tons, the whale swam
away, and with an incredible amount of momentum, raced toward
the Essex. Luckily, the ship did not cave in, and the whale lay
near the ship, apparently stunned. Owen Chase, the first mate, was about to stab the whale- but noticed its
tail dangerously close to the rudder. He hesitated, and in that instant, the whale sprung to life, suddenly
ramming its head into the side of the Essex. The ship caved in, and everyone on deck went into a state of
utter chaos.The whale was never seen again. Captain Pollard quickly ordered men to save the whaleboats
and as many supplies as possible. The crew were now on three frail lifeboats, with little food and supplies,
stranded in the middle of unknown waters. Captain Pollard wanted to head toward the Marquesas Island,
but first mate Owen Chase convinced him otherwise, as the Marquesas were known to be cannibals. They
instead headed toward Easter Island, which was more than 3,000 miles away. After 2 weeks, the crew had
finished their food supply. Finally, they reached Henderson Island, and thought that it was a miracle,
however, the men quickly finished the island’s resources and were soon starving again. Captain Pollard
decided to leave once again and headed toward South America, although it was nearly 1,800 miles away.
Three men stayed behind on Henderson Island, so in the end, two lifeboats sailed out, Captain Pollard and
Owen Chase each leading one of them.
On January 12th 1821, Chase’s boat was separated from Pollard’s. It was very tragic, as neither ship had
much food supply, and within only a few days, there was no food. On Chase’s boat, Isaac Cole died on
February 8th, and after much discussion, was eaten for lack of anything else. Charles Shorter, Isaiah
Shepard, and Samuel Reed followed suit. On Captain Pollard’s boat, the men decided to draw a lot to
decide which one of them would sacrifice their lives to be eaten, and Owen Coffin pulled the draw. It was
a gruesome process, done solemnly. Both boats barely survived the perilous journey. Thankfully, Chase’s
ship was rescued on February 18th by The Indian, and Pollard’s chip was rescued on February 23rd by the
Dauphin. This would have been avoided if it weren’t for Owen Chase who hesitated, causing the
destruction of the Essex. His hesitation led to the three-month long suffering of all the sailors that were
aboard the Essex.