American author Herman Melville's famous novel Moby-Dick took inspiration from a tragic, real-life event. On November 20, 1820, the 87-feet long whaler ship Essex, which had set sail from the port of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was attacked by a gigantic sperm whale, about 85-feet long, who rammed into it, causing the ship to sink. The 20-odd sailors on board managed to survive the attack and were left stranded on mini whaleboats used to harpoon whales.
These 20 survivors were 1,900 kilometres away from the nearest island, with barely any sustenance or freshwater. Only eight of these sailors survived, and they were rescued 92 days later. The Smithsonian Magazine carries a detailed, gruesome account of how the crew resorted to cannibalism to get by, including the captain, who ate his first cousin. Captain George Pollard, then aged 29, survived this tragedy and returned to Nantucket from where he captained another boat, Two Brothers.
In the novel, which was released in 1852, the Captain is called Ahab, and he captains this second boat in order to take his revenge against the sperm whale that sunk his first ship. Alas, that wasn't to be, as Two Brothers crashed into a coral reef and sank. The Captain managed to survive this encounter with death as well. However, he lived out the rest of his life on land, serving as a night watchman. The story has seen many adaptations including a recent mini-series in 2011, and a 1956 film.
Hello, it's me
November 20, 2015, belonged to the one and only Adele. The English singer-songwriter released her third studio album 25, which broke a stream of records the moment it was released, including spending 10 weeks atop the US Billboard Top 200 charts and managing to win the artist a cool couple of Grammy Awards.
