Book signing with Carlo DeVito

Meet Carlo DeVito, the editorial director of Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex: The Complete Illustrated Edition.

Owen Chase was the first mate on the ill-fated American whaling ship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1820. The crew spent months at sea in leaking boats and endured the blazing sun, attacks by killer whales, and lack of food. The men were forced to resort to cannibalism before the final eight survivors were rescued. Herman Melville based his 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, on the sinking.

Chase recorded the tale of the ship’s sinking and the following events with harrowing clarity in Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex.

Interspersed in the gripping narrative in this edition are more than 200 illustrations, as well as informative historical and novel excerpts. There are impressive paintings of whale ships and whaling, photos of whales, charts of the Pacific Ocean, and accounts of other ships lost to the whales they hunted. Writings from Thomas Nickerson (another Essexsurvivor), Richard Henry Dana, Frank T. Bullen, Captain William Scoresby, Alexander Starbuck, Herman Melville, and Jack London add historical and cultural context, and greatly add to the impact of Chase’s account and further transport the reader to that long ago time.

Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex will be a very nice addition to have prior to seeing “In the Heart of Sea”, the movie, a Ron Howard production scheduled for release in December. In fact, Howard visited Mystic Seaport and spent time on the Museum’s whaleship, Charles W. Morgan.