A Task

Couver_ · Post by **Couver_** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 4:15 pm

Here is something that has been tasked to me and so far google has failed me.

I am trying to find out about a whaling vessel that sank. And two of the passengers were transfered to an american ship. It has some historical signifiganze I just can't find it.

I need to know the name of each vesssel and the two passengers if ya'll get board. Nice how we get vauge stuff and have to find it eh?

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 4:46 pm

Do you have some dates, locations, etc? A whaling vessel that sank, and 2 passengers being transferred to an American ship, isn't all that specific.

Couver_ · Post by **Couver_** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:11 pm

Thats just it they are vauge as not to make it easy on us. "Find the fly s@#$ in the pepper" is the phrase they use. I think its something famous like maybe what Moby Dick was based on but am trying to find it

melvin · Post by **melvin** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 7:15 pm

here's a shot... george pollard and charles ramsdell (or ramsdale, depending on who's writing) of the whaling ship Essex out of nantucket. resc ued (after the Essex capsized) by the whaling ship Dauphin, also out of nantucket.

here and here

edit! missed what you wrote about how you think you're looking for the basis for Moby Dick. a quote from the bbc link: Most of the survivors at some time or another wrote accounts of the disaster, some of which differ markedly on details of the character of the main players in the story. The best known is Chase's Narrative of the Most Extra-Ordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex, which was published in 1821. While whaling in the South Pacific, Owen's son William met a young whaler, and spoke with him at some length about the Essex, and gave a copy of his father's manuscript to the young man. That young man was Herman Melville, and it was Chase's narrative that inspired Melville's greatest work, Moby Dick.

we have a winner?

index_html · Post by **index_html** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 1:14 am

Another link:

Was Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" based on a real event?

Answer

Not the entire novel, but the basic idea of a whale that turned the tables on its hunters was the basis for Melville's "Moby Dick".

The whaling ship Essex was lost in the Pacific (1820) after coming across a bull sperm whale in its spawning grounds. The whale not only resisted being taken but managed to sink the Essex, leaving the survivors adrift to face a very unpleasant time. Many of the survivors were lost to starvation and even cannibalism. The first mate of the Essex, Owen Chase, was one of the survivors and recorded his experiences in a journal that his son later gave to Melville.

Link (Do a Google for "essex whaling ship" for more).

Couver_ · Post by **Couver_** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 1:20 pm

You guts are awsome thank you!!! One of my next tasks is fun. I have to go to a mandatory BarBQ on Friday. Good to go cept they will not give us directions we have to find it. Ahhh much fun