Essex and the Whale

R. D. Madison is professor emeritus of English at the U.S. Naval Academy.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Swimming through LibrariesFurther ReadingA Note on the TextsIllustrationsHerman Melville, "Chapter 45: The Affidavit," Moby-Dick or the Whale (1851)Owen Chase, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex (1821)Jeremiah N. Reynolds, "Mocha Dick; Or the White Whale of the Pacific: A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal" (1839)From "Gallapagos Islands; Prizes," David Porter, Journal of a Cruise Made to the Pacific Ocean (1815)From Francis Allyn Olmsted, Incidents of a Whaling Voyage (1841)From Frederick Debell Bennett, Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe (1840)From Charles H. Barnard, A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Capt. Charles H. Barnard, in a Voyage round the World (1836)From Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1846)From J. Ross Browne, Etchings of a Whaling Cruise (1846)From Charles Wilkes, "Currents and Whaling," Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (1844)From Pierre Bayle, An Historical and Critical Dictionary (1710)From James Fenimore Cooper, The Pilot; A Tale of the Sea (1824) and The Sea Lions; or, the Lost Sealers (1849)From Nathaniel Ames, A Mariner's Sketches (1830)From "Whales," Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1843)From Henry Trumbull, Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter (1824)C. Hamilton Smith, "Whale," in John Kitto, Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature (1845)From William Scoresby, Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale Fishery (1820)From Thomas Beale, The Natural History of the Sperm Whale (1839)From James Colnett, A Voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, for the Purpose of Extending the Spermaceti Whale Fisheries (1798)From Horatio Hastings Weld, Ribs and Trucks, from Davy's Locker (1842)From William Dampier, A New Voyage round the World (1729)From Joseph C. Hart, Miriam Coffin, or the Whale-Fishermen (1834)From Obed Macy, The History of Nantucket (1835)From Henry T. Cheever, The Whale and His Captors; or, The Whaleman's Adventures, and the Whale's Biography (1850)Herman Melville, Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage to the Holy Land (1876)Herman Melville's Sea RoutesIndex

Madison's book is most valuable, however, for its inclusion of less prominent yet still interesting writers who touched Melville's literary sensibilities. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.