In the heart of the sea / Philbrick, Nathaniel

Chronicles the events surrounding the wreck of the whaleship Essex in 1821, which sank after being rammed by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale, forcing its crew to sail to the distant coast of South America in three tiny boats.

Tells the story of the Essex, a whaleship that set sail from Nantucket in 1819 on a routine voyage, and was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale in the South Pacific, setting the twenty-man crew adrift in three tiny boats.