In The Heart Of The Sea Summary

Book Review
Nathaniel Philbrick
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Penguin Books
May 1, 2001

Kevin Ivatts
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Western Civilization
December 1, 2015

A creature of up to 100 feet mortal and alive just under the surface of the water harmlessly minding it’s own business is the golden ticket when killed and dragged into a port by humans on a boat. The author of the novel is Nathaniel Philbrick, he grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, following his childhood he attended Brown University where his love for sailing was ignited. He was Brown University’s first All-American Intercollegiate sailor in 1978, while in the same year he won the Sunfish award in Barrington RI. His writing ability
Thomas Nickerson, the young boy whose father was not born on Nantucket, is already discriminated against to be hired because his father was not born on Nantucket. The whalers of Nantucket are who all of the kids on the island idolize along with all of the women and for a woman who marries a whaler, she must be very independent. The sacrifice that these men must make is hefty considering the fact they will have no contact with their family for up to two years and will only achieve a salary of about $150. A whaleship must be thoroughly checked over and packed with gear before departure and the ship’s members are responsible for doing so. The captain and the owners of the ship are responsible for replenishing the supplies that are on board the ship or upgrading parts on the ship. Due to the Quakerism in Nantucket the crew had to make due with what was given to them and properly repair the damaged parts they were given. After long days of working for Nickerson and the rest of the crew on preparing the Essex, August 11, 1819 the ship departs the harbor and sets out for the sea. Immediately leaving the harbor there were problems, due to an extremely inexperienced crew and harsh conditions soon meet the ship after only 3 days at sail. Captain
He does so by describing in extreme detail all of the sights, smells, and noises present throughout the voyage allowing the reader to draw a picture in their mind. The New York Times review of In the Heart of the Sea agrees that, “It’s a book that gets in your bones”. Philbrick talks in detail about all of the hardships that the crew faces, which helps the reader understand that being a whaler is not a job full of fun on the water, it is a job that involves sacrifice and constantly demands on the spot decision making for the welfare of the crew. In the case of the Essex the author portrays how every choice that they made was one that turned out to have rough consequences for the crew. Philbrick often stated how many of the decisions that took place on the Essex were questioned by other members of the crew but usually a decision was reached by Captain Pollard after convincing from his crew members. “Captain Pollard was no Bligh or Shackleton: he lacked the right stuff to succeed”. This did not allow the inexperienced crew a chance of success because the experience was coming up short on every decision that was made for the reason that their was no previous first hand experience to go off of. Philbrick’s imagery is tremendous however as stated by a review from Writers Edit “The imagery comes at a cost, as other sections of the novel can appear long-winded and affect