( From the book jacket)
"Never in the history of whale hunting had a ship been attacked by a whale. But on November 20, 1820, the unthinkable happened: The whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry whale. In minutes, the twenty-man crew (several of whom were only teenagers) found themselves stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in three leaky boats with minimal supplies and little hope.
Three months later, two of the boats were rescued off the coast of South America. The castaways had sailed over 4,500 miles from the site of the disaster, an incredible distance. But of the twenty men, only eight survived."
This true-life story includes first-hand accounts, archival photographs, maps, and artwork. It was the likely inspiration for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.