This was the first book I ever read about tragedy and survival at sea, and I found it enthralling! It tells the tale of the whaleship Essex, which was struck and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820. The men feared trying to land on the Polynesian islands to the west, so they sailed their small lifeboats to the South American coast, thousands of miles away!

The horrors these men faced were unbelievable!. The men in these boats suffered from severe hunger and thirst, of course. When it rained, the men pulled down the sails to catch the rain water for drinking...but the sails were so encrusted with dried salt that the water was undrinkable anyway! One of the life boats was so desparate for food that they drew straws, then shot and ate the loser!

Only three of the men survived, washing onto the shore of Chile after eighty-nine days of sailing in a tiny boat on the vast Pacific Ocean. I think it is truly amazing that anyone survived. As the author, Nathaniel Philbrick, stated: "It is a tragedy that happens to be one of the greatest stories ever told."

If you like survival stories, you absolutely must read this book.