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302:. As other crew members died their bodies were eaten in turn until only four men were left alive on Pollard's boat. One of them, Charles Ramsdell proposed that lots should be drawn to determine who should be killed so that the rest might survive. Pollard at first resisted this suggestion but then gave in to the majority. The lot fell to his cousin Owen Coffin and lots were drawn again to determine who would be Coffin's executioner. Ramsdell drew the black spot and Coffin was shot and his remains eaten. After the death of Barzillai Ray some days later, Pollard and Ramsdell sailed on and were rescued on 23 February by the whaleship
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277:, which were further away but presumed to be safer. However, on the grounds that very little was actually known about these islands, Chase and Joy disagreed, proposing instead to sail south far enough to pick up a band of variable breezes that would take them to South America. Once again, Captain Pollard reluctantly yielded to their arguments.
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Sailing east towards South
America, Pollard and Chase had seen Matthew Joy's health decline. He was transferred to Pollard's boat and shortly thereafter died. Obed Hendricks was given command of Joy's boat, and the three boats sailed on until during a gale one night Chase's boat became separated from
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spars and sails. They also hastened to retrieve what provisions they could and divided them equally so that each whaleboat had 200 pounds of hardtack, 65 gallons of freshwater, and two
Galapagos tortoises. The crew was divided into three whaleboats commanded by Pollard, Chase, and Joy and set sail
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Four days after leaving
Nantucket the ship was struck by a sudden storm and suffered a knockdown, having been rolled almost ninety degrees onto her side. Two of the ship’s whaleboats were lost and another was damaged. This mishap was caused in part by miscalculations on the part of Pollard and his
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began taking on water following the second collision with the whale. The crew abandoned the sinking vessel, taking the navigational equipment and
Pollard's and Chase's sea chests with them. Meanwhile, Pollard and Joy were hunting smaller whales near the ship, and on their return found the
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the other two. By 20 January 1821 a crew member, Lawson Thomas, died just as the boats of
Pollard and Hendricks had come to the end of their provisions. It was at this point that to survive their ordeal the men resorted to
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officers, and in part by the inexperience of the crew. Pollard declared the damage was so extensive that they should return to
Nantucket for repairs, but Chase and Joy persuaded him to go forward to the
375:. His manuscript was lost for nearly a century, but was discovered, authenticated and published in 1984. An account of the ordeal, using both Chase and Nickerson's works, was written by
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had capsized. The crew chopped off the masts (a necessary move that would enable the ship to stay upright for a longer time) and outfitted the whaleboats with sails and masts using the
335:, Pollard had to face Nancy Bunker Coffin, who was distraught at the idea that Pollard was alive as a consequence of her son's death. Pollard was given command of the whaleship
173:, the son of Tamar (Bunker) and George Pollard, a ship's captain, at a time when the principal industry there was hunting sperm whales to harvest the oil contained in their
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found itself an inspiration for movie adaptations in the mid-2010s as two of them were released in quick succession, and in which George
Pollard himself became portrayed.
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as having said of
Pollard, "To the islanders he was a nobody. To me, the most impressive man, tho' wholly unassuming, even humble – that I ever encountered."
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and sank. This ended
Pollard's whaling career. He made a single voyage in a merchant vessel and then spent the rest of his life as a night watchman on Nantucket.
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with provisions estimated to last them 60 days. Pollard, Chase, and Joy set up a council to decide which direction to sail in. The closest islands were the
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arrived in the
Pacific Ocean in January 1820. On 20 November 1820, in a remote area of the ocean, some 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) west of the
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with whose care and protection Pollard had been entrusted by his aunt, Nancy Bunker Coffin. To fill in the crew, others had to be recruited from
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by the owners, Gideon Folger and Sons, and prepared to set sail for the Pacific Ocean in August. Other members of the 21-man crew included
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On 20 December, near starvation, the crews of the three whaleboats reached what they believed to be
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that had brought him home, and this voyage also ended in disaster when the ship ran into rocks off
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Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex
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Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex
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The Loss of the Ship Essex Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats
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The Loss of the Ship Essex Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats
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for four years in the capacities of second mate and first mate from 1815–1819.
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on 22 December, wherein an elderly Thomas Nickerson recounted the events of
371:(1851). Much later, Cabin boy Nickerson wrote his own account of the voyage
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First Mate Chase and a ghost writer wrote an account of the ordeal entitled
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Upon his return to Nantucket on 5 August aboard the whaleship
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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
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564:"Sunken ship of skipper who inspired 'Moby-Dick' found"
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704:. Nantucket: Nantucket Historical Association
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470:"No 'Moby-Dick': A Real Captain, Twice Doomed"
682:. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
181:. By the time he was 23 he had served on the
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447:. The Pollard character was voiced by actor
158:Plaque on the Capt George Pollard house in
680:Stove By A Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex
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228:and hope to replace the whaleboats there.
188:In 1819, Pollard was appointed captain of
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69:Learn how and when to remove this message
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32:This article includes a list of general
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113:(c. 1791–1870) was the captain of the
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782:People from Nantucket, Massachusetts
468:McKinley, Jesse (11 February 2011).
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570:. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
562:CNN Wire Staff (13 February 2011).
273:. Pollard suggested sailing to the
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179:spermaceti
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