I cannot fathom being stuck in one of those little whale boats with a little bit of bread, a few turtles, and some sailcloth. Several of you have mentioned the personalities of Pollard and Chase. Pollard seems doomed to fail, but Chase is so arrogant. I can't decide which of the two I would want to sail under. What would you do if you were in that situation? Panic? Cry? Think of Nickerson. He was so young! Your age!
Remember that you will be responsible for the questions I raise in each post. And PLEASE NOTE! Do NOT respond to any post but this current one! Don't go back to the older posts to post! If you need to read them, that's fine, but only post to the current post. That will keep everything simpler!
Chapter 7 - "At Sea"
Note how overloaded each boat was and who was in each boat. Note the items in each boat and how they maintained communication between the three boats. This cannot have been easy! The dietary issues, as well as the problems occurring from exposure to salt water, were serious. How would you have fared?
PICTURE/PHOTOGRAPH BREAK! Be sure to look at them all!
Pay attention to how hard it was for them to "know" where they were. Maps with longitude and latitude were not as they are now! Longitude was especially difficult to figure. You should annotate the information on "dead reckoning" and your big assignment is to figure out where we get the term "log in" for computers! Check out p. 70 for help with this!
Consider what an effect salt had on the body, especially after it infiltrated the bread they had on board. Not a pretty picture. And---the salt water also had dire effects on the boats as well. This was a terrible predicament to be in! After they decided to eat the turtles, note how "blood" thirsty they were. Why?
Again, fate prevailed to keep them away from Tahiti and civilization/rescue. Doomed.
Chapter 8 - "Thirst"
I guess you can figure out this chapter in advance! But, try to go without drinking water or any other drink for a few hours and multiply that in your mind by days. You should annotate the problems that occur from extreme dehydration (without water, literally) on pp. 81-84.
Why was 61-year-old Richard Peterson important to all the men (p. 86)? What does this say about prayer?
Continue to note their physical torments.
Chapter 9 - "The Island"
Another stroke of fate! The men are mistaken in exactly where they have landed, but they are only a couple of hundred miles from civilization--again! Check your map to see where they were. The map is critical!
What is wrong with this island?
What is wrong with Joy?
Who ends up staying on the island? What would you have done? Stayed on the island? Continued on?
Chapter 10 - "The Whisper of Necessity"
Discover what happens to Joy and how they take care of the situation.
On p. 107, right before the 3 asterisks, what are the two choices? How can anyone make such a choice? Put yourself in their place. This really happened, remember.
Who stole bread on Chase's boat, and how would you feel as the boats were separated? Who are the two men who died in this chapter? How were they disposed of?
Happy Reading, and Happy 4th of July!
See you again on July 15th!
Mrs. C.
In chapter 4, “into the Pacific”, the crew has been on the boat for over two months. They have killed many whales and Captain Pollard is concerned about a “twist of fate” where they catch so many that they are unable to handle it. Captain Pollard of the Essex and Capt. Russell of the Aurora discuss the off shore fishing grounds which were discovered by Captain Gardner. This spot is the furthest fishing ground that a ship from Nantucket has ever gone. This meant that the Essex was going to have to make a few stops to stock up on food, water and other supplies for the long journey to the off shore fishing grounds.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, “The Attack”, the Essex was attacked by a whale that was estimated to be 85 feet long. The whale punctured a big hole in the ship and water was coming into the boat which has never happened before. Surprisingly, the black steward, William Bond, became a hero by going back down into the rooms that were filling with water retrieving Pollard and Chase’s chest and navigation equipment. After all of the whale boats get together, the crew of the Essex returns to the capsized boat and searches for necessary things such as food and water. During all of this, the sailors of the Essex spent the night on the whale boats that were tied 100 yards away from their wrecked ship. The first mate, Chase, believes the whale attacked because when it saw his three companions die it enraged him.
In chapter 6, “The Plan”, the crew prepares by outfitting the smaller boats for the long journey. They divided the sails, and the gunnels were built up 6 inches. For special precaution, the crew of the Essex went back onto the ship to salvage pieces of wood to build up the boats and create cuddys. The crew also rationed their food and water. They wrapped it in canvas and put it under the cuddy where the waves would not reach it because if the salt water gets into the food and water it will be ruined. Unfortunately, the Nantucketers did not know much about the customs of the native islands, and they were concerned about cannibalism and other risks.
Thanks, Joe! Isn't this a crazy turn of events?!
DeleteThe twist of fate in Chapter 4 is that the Essex was at sea more than four months with only one whale killed, then finally met success off Peru, killing on average, a whale every 5 days, a pace that exhausted the crew. One of the topics Pollard and Captain Russell from the Aurora discuss is the recent discovery of new whaling ground thousands of miles off the coast of Peru. The place where the Essex ultimately hits the mother lode.
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 is all about the attack of the Essex by the whale. The whale got under the boat and hurled the crew into the air. If I was there, I would have panicked. This was the biggest whale the crew had ever seen. It was 85 feet long and 80 tons. Never before had a whale been known to attack a ship. The whale was a big bull possessed and concerned for other whales. As the ship was sinking, William Bond, the black steward, retrieved navigational equipment such as compasses, navigational books, and quadrants. These would be the crews salvation.
In Chapter 6, after the destruction of the Essex, the crew has to outfit three whaleboats to be able to travel home. They used pieces from the Essex. They stripped the sails to make sails for the 3 whaleboats. They built masts from the ships spars, and they built up the sides of the whaleboats by more than half a foot. They used the cuddy space to protect the hardtack bread from the salt spray of the ocean. Pollard wanted to sail for the Society Islands and Chase wanted to sail up the coast. Going up the coast was the fatal error later. Nantucketers were suspicious of anything beyond their immediate experience. They were conservative. They only listened to the word of other Nantucketers. Of the 3 whaleboats, all 20 men were under the command of Captain Pollard. One whaleboat had a crew of 6 men and the other 2 boats had 7 men each. Each boat was autonomous. They could act independently and had freedom.
I don't blame the whale. It seems like an act of revenge for killing the baby whales in the pod...
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ReplyDeleteChapter 4:
ReplyDeletePollard and Russell discuss the discovery of a new whaling ground by Captain Gardner of the Globe. Gardner noted that the site is more than a thousand miles off the coast of Peru.The discovery is called the Offshore Ground. Captain Pollard decides to take the Essex and its crew to the Offshore Ground during the month of November when the whales are expected to appear.
Chapter 5:
William Bond was commended for retrieving the navigational equipment.The equipment consisted of two compasses, two copies of Nathaniel Bowditch's New American Practical Navigator and two quadrants.
Chase believed the whale attacked because it was seeking revenge for the suffering of three whales which the Essex crew had struck. But I wonder if the whale was seeking its own revenge since it may have been attacked by whalers in the past because the whale's head was ''etched with scars.''
Chapter 6:
The crew built two short masts, two spritsails and a small sail for each whaleboat. They also used cedar boards to build up the sides of each boat to help keep water out. They protected the hardtack by wrapping it in layers of canvas and storing the bread in the cuddy.
Pollard wanted to travel to the Society Islands. However, Chase and Joy wanted to sail to the coast of South America. Again, Pollard did what Chase and Joy wanted and set out for the coast of South America. This was the fatal choice.
Philbrick notes that the Nantucketers were suspicious of anything beyond their immediate experience and were profoundly conservative.
All of the twenty men were under Captain Pollard's command. However, for the three whaleboats, Pollard commanded one and Chase and Joy each commanded his assigned whaleboat. Autonomous means self-rule, independent. Each boat-crew was considered an autonomous entity.
Which boat would you have wanted to be in?
DeleteWOW!! That whale must have been seriously mad. Even now if humans throw something at an animal they will run away. Now the book did say that this whale had some scars on its head, so I’m thinking that some other whaleboats went after him. This whale had enough of being hunted and wanted to send a message to the human race, so he attacked the Essex. Once the men got off the ship and in to the only two boats that they had they instantly started thinking about getting to shore and organized everything. They were in luck that the masts were still in one piece for them to use, otherwise they would have to paddle back to shore. They were also very thankful when they found out that William save the navigation equipment and some of the supplies. After several hours of setting up the boat and taking turns sleeping they were finally ready to set out. They stated around 4 pm they could no longer see the Essex ship. At that point the crew had regained most of their confidence and think about how to preserve what they had.
ReplyDeleteIf I was in that situation I would have been more focused on the whale than what William thought about, which is getting the supplies. I would have been more concerned with my immediate survival.
I can't imagine being stranded out there. This was definitely no-man's land, at that time. Check the map! Yikes!
DeleteThe Essex has gone hundreds and thousands of miles. This got me thinking about what they may have done. I’m guessing that they became very bored since the scenery never changed and no new people came aboard. Pollard and Russell were able to meet up and talk about travel routes. Russell brought up to Pollard about the offshore grounds about 1000 miles from Peru and those waters were filled with whales. Pollard knew that his crew hasn’t gotten many opportunities to harpoon a whale for its oil, so they changed course to the offshore grounds. That change in course proved to be a disastrous twist of fate for the Essex and its crew.
ReplyDeletePollard and the other whale boat have now killed a couple of whales in the offshore grounds, and are feeling a little bit more comfortable about how they may be paid. All of that changed on November 20, 1820, when they were rammed by an angry whale that was said to be twice the size of a normal whale. After the attacks to the Essex were over, the crew loaded the spare whale boat into the water and began to evacuate to the whale boat. One of the crewmates, Bond, had the courage to jump into the sinking ship and retrieve the navigation instruments which would be critical for their survival.
When the crew members saw Bond grab the navigation instruments and other supplies, they were thinking how they would survive in these tiny whale boats. Once Chase met up with the other two whale boat crews, they all decided to go back to the wreckage to get any supplies they could. They took supplies such as wood to build up the sides of the whale boats, sails that they could use to go faster, food and water. Looking at the diagram of the whale boat, I thought it was incredible that they could have all that gear and also about 10 crew members in the boat as well.
There was a lot of arguing about where the boat would go and which course they should go. It was Chase and Joy that won the argument about going back around South America to head back home. Pollard wanted to head west to islands in the Pacific because that would be the easiest way to get to land. This proved to be the worst decision that could have been made. Pollard had twelve crew members on his boat that were made up of men mostly from Nantucket. The remaining crew of the Essex was split up into the two other whale boat. Interestingly even though all the survival boats were made up of the crew of the Essex, each boat had an autonomous component. This means that each boat was self-ruling and was independent of the others.
It's almost like they were set up to fail!
Delete
ReplyDeleteAfter several months without catching a whale, they were able to kill about 7 whales and extract 450 barrels of oil. This was very hard for them because the winds were very strong. That was definitely a hard job!
Pollard and Captain Russell from the Aurora discussed the recent discovery of a whaling ground, which allowed a ship to return to Nantucket with more than 2,000 barrels of oil. This gave Captain Pollard to hope to past their voyage with a boat full of oil. The crew definitely needed to hear this new to increase their moral and keep going into this difficult voyage.
When the ship was sinking, William Bond went back to the cabins to rescue Pollard’s and Chase’s trunks, two compasses, two copies of Bowditch’s New Practical Navigator, and two quadrants.
During the whale hunting, Chase had the chance to lance the whale, but he did not do it. It was no one fault because nobody could have expected that the whale would attack the boat. The whale didn’t act as a creature, but like a human with a strategic plan. The whale was very smart to know where to hit the boat to damage it.
The crew outfit the whaleboats by stripping the sails off the whaleship to make sails for the three whaleboats. They also built masts for the whaleboats from the ship’s spars.
To protect the hardtack, they wrapped the bread with several layers of canvas, and then placed it in the boat’s cuddy. Having it in the cuddy made it easy for the officers to monitor the distribution of the bread to the rest of the crew.
When thee had to decide where to travel, Chase was in favor to
sail towards the nearest land and Pollard wanted to sail to the Society Islands. The Captain agreed to follow Chase’s recommendation to sail to the coast of South America.
The problem with the Nantucketer's suspicions was they were suspicions on anything beyond their immediate experience. Their whaling success was found on a profound conservatism instead on a radical technological advances.
Twenty men were under Pollard’s command. Each boat-crew was autonomous because they could be separated from each other at any moment. They were all equipped with 200 pounds of hardtack, 65 gallons of water, 2 Galapagos tortoises, and a pistol (given to the mate to maintain discipline).
You're exactly right that the Nantucketers were suspicious of anything beyond their experience. I guess maybe we'd all be that way, but it certainly hampered things...
DeleteChapter 4: This chapter started off in Antarctica. They noticed this because they spotted Seals and penguins. They then approached land but there was still a problem. They didn't have enough oil as it was, so they realized that they would have to go on two more years to gain a full cargo of oil to bring home. The Essex had reached their breaking point. Then they reached Staten island but all they could see was fog. It took more than a month for them to round Cape Horn and to arrive to St. Mary's. They received news that the whaling there was not very good. They didn't have any sightings of whales in that area. Luckily, they gained success off of the coast of Peru. At the end, they averaged about 11 whales. During the two
ReplyDeletemonth stretch off the coast, the "ultimate motivator" for the men came, letter from home. The most interesting thing to the men were the pouches of mail. They found out what was going on in their town by reading the mail, it included newspapers and letters. They found out that Daniel Russell handed over to Captain Pollard. They later reached Atacames in September. They were about to sail to South America which was the furthest that any one has ever sailed.
Chapter 5: They were near the Galapagos Islands, which they were familiar with, but not with the danger it had in store. They noticed their first whale in November, but unsuccessfully captured it and ended with a wrecked whaleboat. Later, Chase told the men that a whale was surfacing and it spouted. They the ran into trouble. They ended up catching the whale but during the process a hole sprouted. They now had to fix the hole but keep the whale. But they unsuccessfully kept it under wraps. Not long after did they spot another sperm whale. The whale was under the surface but floated with no movement. Suddenly, the whale moved. The whale swam full speed toward the forward side of the ship. They made history that for the first time ever a whale attacked a ship. If they caught this whale they would have enough oil to head right back home. The whale swam away but then swam back toward the ship. Chase said that he saw the "fury and vengeance" that would be haunting him for the days ahead. The whales tail hit the ship which caused water to start coming into the boat. The Essex was now beginning to sink. The water was filling up the whole ship so they had to use the whaleboats to survive. After watching the boat sink under the horizon, they needed to retrieve food. Forty-Five minutes later a miracle happened. The boat started to float upright again. They retrieved the boat. Unsure whether the boat wasn't going to sink or not, they ended up tying the boats to the ship as a backup. Although they were still unsure of how it happened; they were more surprised at how 20 men and 3 boats got out of there alive.
Chapter 6: After the wreck, their main priority was to make preparations for leaving the wreck damage. The men started to built a more than half a foot wall on the sides of the ship. They still had no food for a total of 2 days. When the men woke they saw a yellowish slim covering the boat. They made the decision for the men to start sailing towards the nearest land. They made the conclusion that they would sail to the Society Islands. They realized that they had to prepare for a long voyage to South America. They created a plan and decided that they should split up. Pollard decided to keep the families together. They set out an hour later.
Splitting up was crazy. And the Society Islands!!!! Wacky idea!
DeleteChapter 4 begins not far from the Falkland Islands near the arctic when the Officer of the Watch heard a scream which he thought was someone who fell overboard. When he looked over the side of the ship he realized it was a penguin. Then Pollard the Captain of the ship, realized they were heading into the pacific which means they were heading in the right direction. Shortly after they met up with the Independence, another whaling ship from Nantucket, who also had bad luck whaling. After the crew from both ships started talking, rumors began to spread that the pacific had been "fished out". Capt. Pollard disregarding the rumors kept the Essex going into the pacific. Off the coast of Peru the Essex started having great success. In two month they had collected 450 barrels of oil (which means about 11 whales!). At this rate the Essex would be able to go back home weeks before their scheduled return which was great news for the crew because even with their great success, the crew was working twice as hard which drained the crew of their energy. Luckily, they got an extra boost thru letters from home. Pollard soon came up with the idea of stoping at the Galapagos Islands and picking up tortoises and much needed supplies. On their way, however, they hit a major setback. One of the crew member, Henry Dewitt, left the Essex for a different life among the Spaniards. With Henry gone, there was one less crew member to run a whaling boat which meant one less boat to use.
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 starts off with the Essex leaving the Galapagos Islands as they sailed closer and closer to the equator. Shortly after that, they experienced a loss in success where whales began to be more elusive. Then one morning they spot a pod of whales. In their pursuit Owen Chase, the Captain of one of the whaling boats, had his boat destroyed by one of the whales. Now short of boat they abandoned the pod. Four days later they spot another pod. Sending out their remaining boats they pursued the pod. Nickerson while on the Essex notices something off of the port bow. It is a huge sperm whale that is about 85 feet long close and in-route to the boat. It appeared to be attacking the Essex. Before they new it, the giant whale rammed into the side of the Essex's ripping a large hole in the boat. After being amazed by what just happened, they call off the pursuit. But before they could even make the call the Essex was rammed again and water was flowing under the deck. Sadly the captain and crew had to abandon ship leaving all the whale oil they worked so had for sink in the pacific.
In Chapter 6 the crew is dealing with the aftermath of the wreck, salvaged what they could pull out of the water which was mainly tortoises. Pollard and his mates started to discuss where they should go next to get out of the water and get home. There was talk of going to Marquesas but unfortunately the natives there are cannibals so they decided not to go there. At this point Pollard decided to take his chances and head to the Society Islands which would be a long and hard trip.
All those superstitions made for bad decisions... :O
Deletechapter 4
ReplyDeleteIn chapter four an event happened (twist of fate). The twist of fate was that the Essex was out at sea for four plus months and didn’t have enough whale but, then they reached Peru and started getting lots and lots of whales ( a whale every 5 days or so). The caption and Pollard had found a new whale area!
In chapter 5 the Essex gets whipped (attacked) by a whale!! I would love to know how the whale can do that!! The whale was huge!! The crew had never seen a bigger one! Some of the equipment was retrieved as the ship started to sink. William Bond and the African Americans saved important things. The equipment that was saved might keep the crew alive! Chase thinks that the boat was attacked by the whale because the whale was standing up for the whales that have been killed.
In chapter 6 I learned the whole entire crew had to fit into three boats to try to makes their ways all the way home! They used the boats remains for supplies for the 3 whale boats. This is why in the preface the boat is built up and there is an old sail. Chase and Pollard had different ideas of getting back. chase made the fatal choice of going up the coast.The people in Nantucket were not sure what to think of the whale ship that made it back. 20 men where under Pollards command. Autonomous means they have freedom and could act independently!
I think the whale had had enough. They had killed several babies in the pod, so it was time to vent!
DeleteIn chapter 4, "into the pacific", the Essex is nearing Antarctica. The twist of fate is that the crew realized that they had been more than four months at sea and saw only one whale in the whole voyage If their journey continued like this, they would have to sail more than two years (like planned) if she wanted to return with a full cargo of oil. They were at their breaking point. Soon, after mistaking Staten Island for fog, the Essex rounded Cape Horn a month later. The weather has only been cruel to the crew and added to their labors. Luckily, they began to have success off Peru; in just two months, Pollard boiled down 450 barrels of oil. During these two busy and exhausting months, the crew received letters from home. Later, Pollard and Russell talk about a new discovery called the Offshore Ground that was founded by Captain Gardner of the Globe. This spot is located more than a thousand miles off the coast of Peru, which is the farthest a Nantucket ship has ever gone. Pollard decides to go with the crew to this fishing ground, but first he stops in South America to stock up on fruits, vegetables, and water. Sometime during this, a member of the crew named Henry DeWitt deserted the Essex.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, "the attack", the Essex has left the Galapagos islands and is heading towards the equator. There is tension among the crew. On November 16, Chase and his boat-crew finally spot a whale. They approached the whale to where they though it would surface. Unfortunately, the whale surface directly under the boat, sending Chase and his men flying into the air. Four days later, the lookout saw spouts. Chase once again goes out and as soon as the first whale popped up, he hurled the harpoon at the whale. As soon as the harpoon sliced into it, the panicked whale the boat with its tail, creating a hole on the boats side. They quickly cut the harpoon and went back to the Essex. While Chase began to repair the broken boat, another whale was spotted. The whale was under surface and then floated back with no movement. All of a sudden, the whale moved and started to swim full speed towards the side of the ship. The ship began to sink when the whale attacked the ship, not once but twice, first ever to be done in history. The crew evacuated into the whaleboats and watched the ship sink. They started to think fast. They needed to retrieve food. After what seemed like hours, a miracle happened. They ship started to float again. Unsure what else to do, the crew climbed back onto the ship. According to page 53, Chase thinks that the whale attacked the ship because it wants revenge on the other whales that have been captured in the past.
In chapter 6, "the plan", Pollard and the crew start to comply with the aftermath of the wreck. They start to build walls one each side of the ship. The men have lost all of the food. The crew discuss where to go to land and go home. They make a final dissection of going to the nearest island called the Society Islands. At first they wanted to split up, but Pollard disagreed and wanted to stay together. Together, they prepare for the long voyage back to land.
It's not going to be pretty....
DeleteChapter four begins on the Franklin islands, when a shriek is heard. People begin to worry that a passenger has fallen overboard, until somebody points out that it is just a penguin! This turns out to be a good thing not only because a passenger did not fall, but also because this is a sign that they are close to Antarctica. They head for the pacific, and they find another ship that had failed in catching whales. Captain George Swain of the other ship says that the ocean simply has nothing to catch. Ironically, after spending around two months near Peru, the essex has phenomenal success. They harpoon and catch a total of 450 barrels of oil! That adds up to about 11 whales! This was the "Twist of fate" that occurred. In that time, the men began to receive mail about what was going on back at home.Chapter four begins on the Franklin islands, when a shriek is heard. People begin to worry that a passenger has fallen overboard, until somebody points out that it is just a penguin! This turns out to be a good thing not only because a passenger did not fall, but also because this is a sign that they are close to Antarctica. They head for the pacific, and they find another ship that had failed in catching whales. Captain George Swain of the other ship says that the ocean simply has nothing to catch. Ironically, after spending around two months near Peru, the essex has phenomenal success. They harpoon and catch a total of 450 barrels of oil! That adds up to about 11 whales! This was the "Twist of fate" that occurred.
ReplyDeleteChapter five starts off explaining how they stopped on the coast of the Galapagos Islands to get things such as huge turtles for their voyage. They began to sail close to the equator for a long time without any luck in finding whales. However, they were eventually able to find a large group of whales. One of the whales wrecked Owen Chase’s boat while he was trying to get a whale. They ended up abandoning that group of whales, but they found another group just a few days later! When trying to catch the whales, the ship was destroyed by two sperm whales! One of them was 85 feet long, the largest the men had ever seen! This causes the ship to sink, which means that all of the whale oil that they worked for was all gone. This leaves the men stranded out there at sea.
Chapter six had to do with how the men would try to get themselves out of the situation they were stuck in. The men tried to use what they found in the water to make things they might need. The men were able to built three boats that were supposed to get everyone on who was on that voyage home! From what they could find in the water, the men were able to build other supplies decently enough to help them make the trip. Owen and Pollard argue about where they should go. Pollard ends up winning the argument and it is agreed that they will set out to the coast of South Africa.
In chapter 4 the Essex was hit by a huge storm. I thought the way that they described the storm was very unique. "From the southwest a line of ink-black clouds was hurtling in their direction." The storm struck when they were near Cape Horn and pushed them back, making it harder for them to reach their destination. The storm blew them back so far that it took the crew over a month to get around Cape Town.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5 everything goes wrong. Chase messes up by taking charge of his whale boat and he predicted that a whale would come up at a spot. Turns out that the whale surfaced directly under the whale boat, hurling Chase and his crew into the air. The whaleboat was destroyed and this was crucial because they were already short on whaleboats. “It was about eight in the morning of a bright clear day. Only a slight breeze was blowing. It was the Perfect day for killing whales.” This quote from page 45 stood out to me so much because it’s the definition for a perfect day for killing whales. Then they spotted a few whales and they lowered their whaleboats into the water. While the crew was after the whales, Nickerson spotted something off the port bow. It was a huge sperm whale and it was pointed toward the ship. The whale had a giant blunt head and it was etched with scars. I don’t know about Nickerson but I would be terrified. The whale was acting strange instead of fleeing in panic, it was just sitting there in the water, puffing occasionally through its blowhole. It was like it was watching them. Then the whale dove and surfaced even closer. At first it was no alarm to the crew. Then it started to move. It picked up speed as it got closer and closer. It was swimming towards the Essex port side. The whale struck the side of the ship with who knows how much power. Chase grabs a lance and tries to strike the beast but he second guessed himself and doesn’t throw it. The whale struck once more and the ship was taking in a lot of water and started to sink. When the whale vanished a hero emerged. His name was William Bond. He dove down underneath the water and grabbed Pollard’s and Chase’s trunks along with the navigational equipment. He’s a hero because he was sacrificing himself for their stuff. That’s what makes him a leader to me too. If I had a choice to sail with him I would.
In chapter 6 the sailors take what they can from the floating remains of the ship and put them to use for the whaleboats. Chase tells Pollard that they should sail to land. They make a council to decide where they will go. They start arguing about some of the destinations because they aren’t that well educated. They decided that they would go south for about 1,500 miles to latitude 26 degrees south and hit winds that would blow them east and they would either end up in Peru or Chile. They also decided to separate the crew into the little whaleboats. It was interesting how they separated them.
In Chapter 4, the Essex was at sea more than four months with only one whale killed. There was a meeting between the Aurora captain and Essex captain. They talked about the discovery of whales thousands of miles off the coast of Peru. The whaling ground was further out then the Essex has ever gone. After a rough start, they started killing on average, a whale every 5 days. They gathered over 250 gallons of oil.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, “The Attack”, the Essex was attacked by a whale that was estimated to be 85 feet long. No whale has ever attacked a boat before. The whale punctured a big hole in the ship and water was coming in. They think the whale attacked because he saw the other whales being killed and was trying to defend them. William Bond was a hero that day by being brave and going down into the captains’ room to rescue the chest of important equipment. The whole crew had to pile into the small whale boats and escape the sinking ship.
In chapter 6, "the plan", Pollard and the crew scavenge their way through the wrecked ship seeing if they could preserve anything to help them continue their voyage. The men have lost all of the food. The crew discuss where to go to land. They finally agree to land on the nearest island called the Society Islands. Pollard and chase disagreed and wanted to split up but pollard made them stay together and travel as one crew or team. They begin to prepare their voyage back to land and maybe home.
If I was in their situation I would probably panic and not know what to do.