Essex on November 23 1820 at Noon
Item
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Identifier
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MS106.3
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Title
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Essex on November 23 1820 at Noon
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Measurements
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Unknown
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Date Created
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ca. 1870
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Description
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A drawing of a whaleship without sails, rigging, or masts, most of her hull underwater. After a day and a half salvaging food, water, materials, and tools from the Essex, the whaleship broke apart and her crew was forced to set sail in their whaleboats, which had been modified to have higher sides, two masts (made from the Essex’s spars), two trapezium-like spritsails and a triangular jib (made from the Essex’s sails). Each boat was given two hundred pounds of dense crackers made of flour and water called “hardtack,” sixty-five gallons of fresh water, two tortoises (caught during a stop to the Galapagos Islands on the way to the Offshore Ground to collect tortoises and repair the Essex), a gun and gunpowder, a hatchet, a lantern, and a tinderbox. To make the bread and water last the two months they estimated it would take to reach South America, the men would have to subsist on six ounces of hardtack - about five hundred calories - and half a pint of water a day. However, only Captain Pollard’s and mate Chase’s boat were given a hog (purchased during a provisioning stop in Cape Verde), a compass, a quadrant, and a copy of Bowditch’s "New American Practical Navigator." Captain Pollard’s crew included Obed Hendricks, his cousin Owen Coffin, Charles Ramsdell, Barzillai Ray, Samuel Reed, and Seth Weeks; mate Chase’s crew included Benjamin Lawrence, Thomas Nickerson, Isaac Cole, Richard Peterson, and William Wright; and mate Joy’s crew included Thomas Chappel, William Bond, Isaiah Shepherd, Charles Shorter, Lawson Thomas, and Joseph West.
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Inscriptions
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Handwritten upper center: This Sketch is designed to Show the Ship On the 23d Nov after the \ Sails and [spears?] and general debris had been [cleaned?] the Ship water Logged
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Handwritten lower center: Ship Essex as She appeared Nov 23 of 1820 at noon water Logged & abandoned \ with the Boats taking their Leave Latt [?] 0/3 [unknown] / 20 West Long
