Posted on 02/11/2011 11:50:12 AM PST by Stoat
Divers have found the shipwrecked vessel of a doomed sailor who inspired the classic American tale Moby Dick off the coast of Hawaii.
When, in 1820, a fierce sperm whale sank George Pollard's first whaling ship Essex it captured the imagination of author Herman Melville, who published the book in 1851.
And, just three years after his first ship sank, a second whaler captained by Pollard, 30, struck a coral reef during a night storm and sank in shallow water.
Marine archaeologists scouring remote atolls 600 miles northwest of Honolulu have found the wreck site of Pollard's second vessel, the Two Brothers.
Most of the wooden whaling ship, from Nantucket just off Cape Cod, Massachusetts disintegrated in Hawaii's warm waters in the nearly two centuries since.
But researchers found several harpoons, a hook used to strip whales of their blubber, and try pots or large cauldrons whalers used to turn whale blubber into oil.
Corals have grown around and on top of many of the objects, swallowing them into the reef.
'To find the physical remains of something that seems to have been lost to time is pretty amazing,' said Nathaniel Philbrick, an author and historian who spent more than three years researching the Essex and its fatal encounter with the whale the Two Brothers and their captain.
'It just makes you realise these stories are more than stories. They're about real lives.'
Officials from the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument one of the world's largest marine reserves were due to announce their findings at a news conference today, exactly 188 years after the Two Brothers sank.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Found: A diver is seen with a cooking pot from the 19th century whaling ship the Two Brothers, which was captained by George Pollard, whose story Moby Dick was based on
Author: Herman Melville was inspired by the story of sailor George Pollard
Sunk: The Essex was Pollard's first ship to sink, when it was attacked by a sperm whale - it influenced Moby Dick
A team of marine archaeologists found the whaler Two Brothers in 2008 while on a trip looking for other wrecks in the Pacific.
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Nantucket Whaler Lost in Pacific Tells Its Tale at Last - NYTimes.com
In Pacific discovery, traces of Nantucket and Moby-Dick - The Boston Globe
(A Video report is available at the link above)
A blubber hook, a tool used in the messy process of carving up a whale. Credit: NOAA/Greg McFall.
Essex = Pequod
cool!
So, you were able to pass junior high school literature class, then?
He probably needed a bigger boat.
“Call me Water-logged.”
So, you were able to pass junior high school literature class, then?
Not sure what you're driving at. Please be so kind as to explain your meaning more fully.
Sounds like he’s referring to folks like Old Ben who — sometimes — let the Classics Illustrated take the place of actually reading the book.
Moby Dick, I did read. It’s a great story.
I am a diver and it would have been a blast to be on that dive.
Except Melville left out all the cannibalism stuff in the lifeboats.
Say it 3 times fast!
Sounds like hes referring to folks like Old Ben who sometimes let the Classics Illustrated take the place of actually reading the book.
Moby Dick, I did read. Its a great story.
If that's true then it's truly unfortunate that another obvious reason for my choice of the Classics Illustrated cover wasn't considered; that being the intent of graphically illustrating how a timeless classic such as Moby Dick has been made accessible to all ages.
Strange, also, that a comic book is being associated with Junior High school, as my own interest in comics waned many years prior. But, that's just me.
from whence the Hawaiian term `Hookie Lau` originated
as being loosely interpreted from the nautical terms `Blubber Hook` and `Nookie Now` ,
the two latter terms being transmogrified into
the former now infamous tourist-bait song of 1948.
LOL - This person makes his/her living as a writer. That is to say, they write for a living, presumably as does his/her editor(s). And yet, this is the best they can come up with before publication. It's remarkable.
Hey! Toay is 2-11-2011— HELPPP!!!
Hey! Today is 2-11-2011— HELPPP!!!
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