Whaling, cannibalism and Moby Dick

Nat Geo reports that they have found the remains of the whaling ship Two Brothers:

Two Brothers was captained by George Pollard, Jr. The Nantucket native had the dubious distinction of commanding two whaling ships and losing both.

Pollard's first ship, the Essex, sank in 1820 after being rammed by a sperm whale—an incident that inspired Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

Adrift at sea in small whaleboats for more than three months, the starving crew of the Essex resorted to cannibalism. Before being rescued by another ship, Pollard helped execute and eat his 18-year-old cousin, who had drawn a bad lot.

Despite the Essex tragedy, Pollard was offered another captaincy soon after, this time of the Two Brothers.

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And those of you who are old enough to remember how you used to have to write old fashioned book reports, you need to check out how modern kids do their history assignments:


No,Moby Dick it Ain't.