Owen Coffin
Encyclopedia
Owen Coffin was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the Nantucket whaleship Essex when it set sail for the Pacific Ocean on a sperm whale-hunting expedition in August 1819, under the command of his cousin, George Pollard, Jr. In November the next year, a whale rammed and stove in the hull of the Essex in mid-Pacific, and the ship sank steadily.
The crew of the Essex escaped in small whaleboats, with sufficient supplies for two months, but were not rescued in that time. During January 1821, the near-starved survivors began to eat the bodies of those who died. When even this resource ran out, the four men remaining in Pollard's boat agreed to draw straws to decide which of them should be slaughtered, lest all four die of starvation. Coffin 'lost' the lottery, and was shot and eaten.
is titled in full "Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)". While there is no evidence that the song is specifically about the Essex (and the lyrics are in parts obscure in meaning), it is written from the point of view of a sailor on a ship undertaking a "three-year tour... on a search for the mighty sperm whale", and co-writer Felix Pappalardi
confirmed that the Owen Coffin in the dedication was the one from the Essex tragedy, for example in an interview for the British music weekly Sounds (issue dated November 20, 1971).
German funeral doom metal band Ahab
released a concept album
about the Essex and one song directly references Coffin's fate in its title Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot) and its lyrics.
The story of the Essex is known to have greatly interested the writer Herman Melville
, who made annotations on a copy of an account of the shipwreck and its aftermath, written by the ship's surviving first mate, Owen Chase
. The story of the Essex inspired part of Melville's novel, Moby-Dick
.
The crew of the Essex escaped in small whaleboats, with sufficient supplies for two months, but were not rescued in that time. During January 1821, the near-starved survivors began to eat the bodies of those who died. When even this resource ran out, the four men remaining in Pollard's boat agreed to draw straws to decide which of them should be slaughtered, lest all four die of starvation. Coffin 'lost' the lottery, and was shot and eaten.
In popular culture
The title song of the 1971 album Nantucket Sleighride by American rock band MountainMountain (band)
Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today...
is titled in full "Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)". While there is no evidence that the song is specifically about the Essex (and the lyrics are in parts obscure in meaning), it is written from the point of view of a sailor on a ship undertaking a "three-year tour... on a search for the mighty sperm whale", and co-writer Felix Pappalardi
Felix Pappalardi
Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitarist.- Early life :Pappalardi was born in the Bronx, New York...
confirmed that the Owen Coffin in the dedication was the one from the Essex tragedy, for example in an interview for the British music weekly Sounds (issue dated November 20, 1971).
German funeral doom metal band Ahab
Ahab
Ahab or Ach'av or Achab in Douay-Rheims was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri according to the Hebrew Bible. His wife was Jezebel....
released a concept album
The Divinity of Oceans
The Divinity of Oceans is the second album by the German funeral doom metal band Ahab. This album was also released through Napalm Records, like their previous releases were.-Track listing:...
about the Essex and one song directly references Coffin's fate in its title Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot) and its lyrics.
The story of the Essex is known to have greatly interested the writer Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
, who made annotations on a copy of an account of the shipwreck and its aftermath, written by the ship's surviving first mate, Owen Chase
Owen Chase
Owen Chase was First Mate of the whale ship Essex, that was struck and sunk by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820. Chase wrote about the incident in Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex...
. The story of the Essex inspired part of Melville's novel, Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
.
Further reading
- Also in Heffernan, Thomas Farel, Stove by a whale: Owen Chase and the Essex, Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press ; [New York] : distributed by Columbia University Press, 1981.
See also
- Essex
- George Pollard, Jr.