nathaniel philbrick in the heart of the sea review

In the second part, we follow the Whaleship Essex and its crew as they hunt sperm whales across the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific. Just think that, back then, all the street lamps and most common lamps were burning - you guessed it - whale oil. It is difficult for a modern-world citizen to conceive how big a deal the whale-hunting industry was back then. The isle of Nantucket was the then flourishing world capital of the whale-hunting industry. In the first part, the author recounts Nantucket’s culture and it’s people way of life. The book is organized into four main parts. By telling the story of the Essex Whaleship’s final voyage, it successfully brings back the difficult, dangerous, and adventurous lives of the 19th-century whalers.

In The Heart of the Sea is a nonfiction work. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history. In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex - an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. Being the sucker that I am for exploration and dramatic adventure stories from the early days, I researched it, only to surface with Nathaniel Philbricks’ In The Heart of the Sea in my hands. While reading Erebus, The Story of a Ship, my attention was caught by a brief mention of the Whaleship Essex.

Nathaniel philbrick in the heart of the sea review