Episode 14b "A Woe That Is Madness"

In this episode we look at the wreck of the Essex, a whaling ship out of Nantucket that in 1820 was attacked by a giant sperm whale in the Pacific and sunk, leaving its 20 man crew drifting on three whaleboats thousands of miles from land. The journey they took is a terrifying story of the limits of human survival, and became an inspiration for Herman Melville's novel 1851 novel "Moby Dick." Our primary sources for this episode are: "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathan Philbrick "The Loss of the Whale Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale: First Person Accounts" by Owen Chase, Thomas Nickerson and others Music in this episode is courtesy of musopen.org You can support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SynodusHorrenda where for $5 a month you will receive access to short monthly bonus episodes. We are now offering quarterly Zoom meetings for all Patreon subscribers regardless of how much you subscribe for. You can also follow us on twitter @SynodusPod and on Instagram at SynodusHorrendaPod. We now offer t-shirts at https://synodushorrenda.threadless.com/