In the Heart of the Sea Resources

WEBSITES

Nantucket's Official Homepage

Itching to learn more about Nantucket? Allow us to scratch that itch in hyperlink form.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Personally, our favorite Motley Crue song is Whales, Whales, Whales. Wait... we've been getting that one wrong the whole time? Wow.

MOVIE OR TV PRODUCTIONS

In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

Check out the blockbuster adaptation of In the Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and starring heavyweights like Chris Hemsworth and Cillian Murphy (plus Ben Whishaw as Herman Melville).

In the Heart of the Sea Trailer

Care to see some C.G.I. whales smash the crud out of some boats? Click on, friends, click on.

ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS

"Small Island: An Interview with Nathaniel Philbrick"

This compelling interview with author Nathaniel Philbrick provides some great insight into In the Heart of the Sea, as well as his personal relationship with Nantucket.

An Interview with Nathaniel Philbrick

In this interview, Philbrick goes into detail about the books he loves to read. Spoiler: he loves to read history.

"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Moby-Dick"

This op-ed piece from the New York Times gets into the crux of many readers' uneasy relationship to Moby-Dick, which was inspired by the Essex disaster.

VIDEO

An Evening with Nathaniel Philbrick

We'd love to spend every evening with Nathaniel Philbrick, but this will have to do for now.

Sperm Whale Hunt

This brief segment from the BBC follows modern-day Indonesian fisherman who hunt sperm whales for food: one whale will feed a village for months at a time. Be forewarned: this one gets a tad gnarly.

Mountain, "Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)"

Awesome rock band Mountain recorded this awesome track (inspired by the Essex disaster) back in 1971. Awesome.

AUDIO

An Interview with Nathaniel Philbrick

This chat with the New York Times touches on many of the issues at the core of In the Heart of the Sea.

The Moby-Dick Big Read

Want to read Moby-Dick without actually reading it? Look no further than The Moby-Dick Big Read podcast, which features all 135 chapters of the novel read by celebrities and literary figures.

IMAGES

A Sperm Whale to Scale

Want to know how big sperm whales really are? Here's a hint: they make elephants look like grasshoppers.

The Chest from the Essex

This chest, found floating in the Pacific Ocean, is probably the only surviving piece of the Essex still in existence.