Owen Chase (October 7, 1797 – March 7, 1869) was first mate of the whaler Essex, which sank in the Pacific Ocean on November 20, 1820, after being rammed by a sperm whale. Soon after his return to Nantucket, Chase wrote an account of the shipwreck and the attempts of the crew to reach land in small boats. The book, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, was published in 1821 and would inspire Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick.

Background

Chase was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Phebe (Meader) and Judah Chase, a farmer. He was one of five surviving brothers, all of whom became whaling captains. In June 1817, on what was probably his second or third voyage, he sailed as a boatsteerer on Essex under captain Daniel Russell and first mate George Pollard Jr. His share of the profits from the successful whaling voyage enabled him to marry Peggy Gardner a few weeks after his return to Nantucket in the spring of 1819.

Sinking of Essex

As first mate of Essex, 21-year-old Owen Chase left Nantucket on August 12, 1819, on a two-and-a-half-year whaling voyage. On the morning of November 20, 1820, a sperm whale (said to be around ) twice rammed Essex, sinking her west of South America. The closest known islands, the Marquesas, were more than to the west and the captain of Essex, George Pollard, intended to make for them but the crew, led by Chase, feared the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to make for South America. Unable to sail against the trade winds, the boats had to sail south for before they could use the Westerlies to turn towards South America, which would still lie another to the east.

Of the 20 men in three whale boats who began the journey, eight survived: three who chose to remain on a barely habitable island and five in two boats who attempted to reach South America and who were forced to resort to cannibalism to remain alive.

Within four months and with the help of a ghostwriter, he completed an account of the disaster, the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex; this was used by Herman Melville as one of the inspirations for his novel Moby-Dick.

Return to the sea

In December 1821 Chase signed on as first mate on the whaler Florida which sailed on December 20 from New Bedford, Massachusetts, the crew list contains the only extant physical description of Chase; 24 years old, five feet 10 inches, dark complexioned and brown haired. After whaling in the same area where Essex sank, the vessel returned to New Bedford on November 26, 1823. Chase was again greeted by a daughter he had never seen, 18-month-old Lydia. On September 14, 1824, a son William was born and Chase's wife Peggy died two weeks later. Nine months later Chase married Nancy Joy, the widow of Matthew Joy who was the first of the Essex survivors to die.

Two months later Chase sailed again, as captain of the Winslow. The Winslow fished the Japan grounds before continuing east to dock briefly in San Francisco before sailing for the Pacific ground and finally returning to New Bedford on June 20, 1827. In mid-August Winslow set sail for the Brazil Banks, but was badly damaged in a severe storm south of the Canary Islands that also sank two whaling ships and damaged three more. The ship was forced to return to New Bedford where it took nine months to repair. The ship sailed for the Pacific grounds in mid July 1828, returning early July 1830.

Family

Chase was married four times:

  • April 1819 to Peggy Gardner and had several children
  • June 1825 to Nancy Joy a widow
  • April 1836 to Eunice Chadwick
  • Sept 1840 to Susan Gwinn or Quinn, a widow
  • The 1971 album Nantucket Sleighride, by the band Mountain, contains the song Nantucket Sleighride (to Owen Coffin), inspired by Chase's account of the Essex.
  • In 2013, the television movie The Whale was broadcast on BBC One on December 22, 2013, wherein an elderly Thomas Nickerson, who had been the cabin boy on Essex, recounts the events. Chase was played by Jonas Armstrong.
  • In 2015, the film In The Heart of the Sea, directed by Academy Award Winner Ron Howard, was released on December 11, 2015, with Chase being portrayed by Chris Hemsworth.
  • A dramatized documentary, entitled Revenge of the Whale, had already been produced and broadcast on September 7, 2001, by NBC. The Chase character was voiced by actor David Harbour.

See also

  • Ann Alexander, a ship sunk by a whale on August 20, 1851
  • In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, a National Book Award-winning work of maritime history by Nathaniel Philbrick telling the Essex story from the point of view of both Nickerson and Chase.
  • In the Heart of the Sea, the above book adapted into a feature film by director Ron Howard, starring Chris Hemsworth, Ben Whishaw, and Cillian Murphy.

Notes

Citations

References

  • Also in Heffernan, Thomas Farel, Stove by a whale: Owen Chase and the Essex, Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press; [New York] : distributed by Columbia University Press, 1981.
  • Clayton, Jane M. (2014) Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775-1815: An alphabetical list of ships. (Berforts Group).
  • Works by Owen Chase at Project Gutenberg
  • Chase, Owen (1821). Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. New York: W. B. Gilley. (PDF online)