In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Having left Henderson Island—and three of their companions along with it—the crew began to deteriorate in a way that it had previously avoided. The decline was partly physical, as the cumulative effects of starvation took a greater and greater toll. The men’s increasing sickness made it harder to continue seeking rescue even as the need for it grew—one of the many ironies In the Heart of the Sea highlights. So weak were the men that when a shark attacked Chase’s boat, he found that he did not even have the strength to make an attempt to fight it off (fortunately it simply became bored with the boat and swam away).

Even more than the physical disintegration, however, Philbrick’s account emphasizes the psychological effects of the men’s situation. Moreso than Joy’s death itself, its aftermath reveals how difficult it was to keep order as the men grew increasingly desperate. Because Joy had been ill for some time (possibly even before the wreck), he wasn’t able to keep a close eye on the rationing of provisions, which had been nearly depleted in his boat. Even Chase, the most forceful of the officers, encountered a similar problem when he regained consciousness to find that one of the men in his boat had tried to steal supplies. Nevertheless, Philbrick stresses that the men generally tried to retain their humanity for as long as possible; when the situation in Joy’s boat became clear, Pollard opted to share his own boat’s remaining provisions with its crew.

This question of humanity comes to a head (for both the survivors and Philbrick) with the decision to resort to cannibalism. If the survivors chose not to consume their fellow sailor, they would be able to maintain their sense of dignity and humanity, but they would also in all likelihood be signing their own death warrants. On the other hand, if they did choose to go down the route of cannibalism, they might be able to prolong their journey. However, this was far from a guarantee given the emaciated state of those who died. The chapter, entitled “Games of Chance,” thus suggests that the survivors were engaging in a kind of gamble even before the decision actually to draw lots.

Choosing to consume their shipmates was not an easy choice, but it also was not unique; cannibalism was a reality in every age that saw men stranded at sea, to the extent that “survivors often felt compelled to inform their rescuers if they had not resorted to it” (164). This does not mean the act had no significant impact on the spirits of survivors: “Sailors commonly accepted that eating human flesh brought a person’s moral character down” (171), and each man knew that social norms had now been cast aside in an unbridled pursuit of continued survival. Although the men of the Essex seem to have maintained as great a sense of empathy and human feeling as they could in their circumstances, “the cruel mathematics of survival cannibalism” reigned supreme (173). One of the most uncomfortable aspects of the case, Philbrick suggests, was the racial disparity among survivors: None of the Black sailors lived to see rescue, and several were among the first to die. Philbrick notes several factors that might have contributed to this beyond outright favoritism, including the fact that African Americans in this era generally suffered from poorer health to begin with. At a minimum, however, it’s likely that an unconscious sense of in-groups and out-groups made it psychologically easier to countenance consuming the Black sailors (or, for that matter, the “off-islanders”). That said, the story of Owen Coffin’s death illustrates the limits of even close kinship, as everyone in Pollard’s boat knew each other well.

Nevertheless, Philbrick avoids judging the decision to engage in cannibalism, stressing that the circumstances in which the men found themselves are unimaginable to most readers. He even suggests that there was a kind of humanity intertwined with the act, which manifested in various ways. Chase and his crew gave what remained of Cole’s body a burial at sea, while Pollard told the others in his boat that they were “welcome” to consume him if he died first. Most notably, Philbrick comments on Pollard and Ramsdell’s reluctance to give up the leftover bones of the dead, even after their rescue, as “gifts from the men they had known and loved” (188). Though the anecdote is grisly, the fact that affection and gratitude could punctuate the experience of survival cannibalism illustrates The Endurance of the Human Spirit.