Beneath the Heart of the Sea

by Owen Chase

  At about seven o’clock this morning, while I was lying asleep, my companion who was steering, suddenly and loudly called out, ‘There’s a sail!’ I know not what was the first movement I made upon hearing such an unexpected cry: the earliest of my recollections are, that immediately I stood up, gazing in a state of abstraction and ecstasy upon the blessed vision of a vessel about seven miles off from us; she was standing in the same direction with us, and the only sensation I felt at the moment was, that of a violent and unaccountable impulse to fly directly towards her. I do not believe it is possible to form a just conception of the pure, strong feelings, and the unmingled emotions of joy and gratitude, that took possession of my mind on this occasion: the boy, too, took a sudden and animated start from his despondency, and stood up to witness the probable instrument of his salvation. Our only fear was now, that she would not discover us, or that we might not be able to intercept her course: we, however, put our boat immediately, as well as we were able, in a direction to cut her off; and found, to our great joy, that we sailed faster than she did. Upon observing us, she shortened sail, and allowed us to come up to her. The captain hailed us and asked who we were. I told him we were from a wreck, and he cried out immediately for us to come alongside the ship. I made an effort to assist myself along to the side, for the purpose of getting up, but strength failed me altogether, and I found it impossible to move a step further without help. We must have formed at that moment, in the eyes of the captain and his crew, a most deplorable and affecting picture of suffering and misery. Our cadaverous countenances, sunken eyes, and bones just starting through our skin, with the ragged remnants of clothes stuck about our sunburnt bodies, must have produced an appearance to him affecting and revolting in the highest degree. The sailors commenced to remove us from our boat, and we were taken to the cabin, and comfortably provided for in every respect. In a few minutes we were permitted to taste of a little thin food, made from tapioca, and in a few days with prudent management, we were considerably recruited. This vessel proved to be the brig Indian, captain William Crozier, of London; to whom we are indebted for every polite, friendly, and attentive disposition towards us, that can possibly characterize a man of humanity and feeling. We were taken up in latitude 33°; 45’ S. longitude 81°; 03’ W. At twelve o’clock this day we saw the island of Massafuera, and on the 25th of February, we arrived at Valparaiso in utter distress and poverty. Our wants were promptly relieved there.

  The captain and the survivors of this boat’s crew, were taken up by the American whaleship, the Dauphin, Captain Zimri Coffin, of Nantucket, and arrived at Valparaiso on the 17th of March following: he was taken up in latitude 37°; S. off the island of St Mary. The third boat got separated from him on the 28th of January, and has not been heard of since. The names of all the survivors, are as follows – Captain George Pollard, jun. Charles Ramsdale, Owen Chase, Benjamin Lawrence, and Thomas Nicholson, all of Nantucket. There died in the captain’s boat, the following: Brazilla Ray of Nantucket, Owen Coffin of the same place, who was shot, and Samuel Reed, a black man.

  The captain relates, that after being separated, as herein before stated, they continued to make what progress they could towards the island of Juan Fernandez, as was agreed upon; but contrary winds and the extreme debility of the crew prevailed against their united exertions. He was with us equally surprised and concerned at the separation that took place between us; but continued on his course, almost confident of meeting with us again. On the 14th, the whole stock of provisions belonging to the second mate’s boat, was entirely exhausted, and on the 25th, the black man, Lawsen Thomas, died, and was eaten by his surviving companions. On the 21st, the captain and his crew were in the like dreadful situation with respect to their provisions; and on the 23rd, another coloured man, Charles Shorter, died out of the same boat, and his body was shared for food between the crews of both boats. On the 27th, another, Isaac Shepherd (a black man), died in the third boat; and on the 28th, another black, named Samuel Reed, died out of the captain’s boat. The bodies of these men constituted their only food while it lasted; and on the 29th, owing to the darkness of the night and want of sufficient power to manage their boats, those of the captain and second mate separated in latitude 35°; S. longitude 100°; W. On the 1st of February, having consumed the last morsel, the captain and the three other men that remained with him, were reduced to the necessity of casting lots. It fell upon Owen Coffin to die, who with great fortitude and resignation submitted to his fate. They drew lots to see who should shoot him: he placed himself firmly to receive his death, and was immediately shot by Charles Ramsdale, whose hard fortune it was to become his executioner. On the 11th, Brazilla Ray died; and on these two bodies the captain and Charles Ramsdale, the only two that were then left, subsisted until the morning of the 23rd, when they fell in with the ship Dauphin, as before stated, and were snatched from impending destruction. Every assistance and attentive humanity, was bestowed upon them by Captain Coffin, to whom Captain Pollard acknowledged every grateful obligation. Upon making known the fact, that three of our companions had been left at Ducies Island, to the captain of the U.S. frigate Constellation, which lay at Valparaiso when we arrived, he said he should immediately take measures to have them taken off.

  On the 11th of June following I arrived at Nantucket in the whaleship the Eagle, Captain William H. Coffin. My family had received the most distressing account of our shipwreck, and had given me up for lost. My unexpected appearance was welcomed with the most grateful obligations and acknowledgments to a beneficent Creator, who had guided me through darkness, trouble, and death, once more to the bosom of my country and friends.

  Supplement

  The following is a list of the whole crew of the ship, with their arrangements into the three several boats upon starting from the wreck: the names of those who died, were left on the island, or shot – with those also who survived, and who were in the third or second mate’s boat at the time of separation – and whose fate is yet uncertain:

  Captain James Pollard, 1st boat, survived

  Obed Hendricks, 1st boat, put in 3rd boat

  Brazilla Ray, 1st boat, died

  Owen Coffin, 1st boat, shot

  Samuel Reed, 1st boat, died

  Charles Ramsdale, 1st boat, survived

  Seth Weeks, 1st boat, left on the island

  Owen Chase, 2nd boat, survived

  Benjamin Lawrence, 2nd boat, survived

  Thomas Nicholson, 2nd boat, survived

  Isaac Cole, 2nd boat, survived

  Richard Peterson, 2nd boat, survived

  William Wright, 2nd boat, left on the island

  Matthew P. Joy, 3rd boat, died

  Thomas Chapple, 3rd boat, left on the island

  Joseph West, 3rd boat, missing

  Lawson Thomas, 3rd boat, died

  Charles Shorter, 3rd boat, died

  Isaiah Shepherd, 3rd boat, died

  William Bond, 3rd boat, missing

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