Risk in the Essex Voyage Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Risk in the Essex Voyage - Case Study Example According to the discussion the crew decided to continue for five weeks without stopping to do repairs and searched for warm waters. The encountered other whalers who told them about a newly discovered a good hunting ground located about four thousand six hundred kilometers to the southwest. The area was risky because it was too far and the inhabitants of the Islands were said to be cannibals. They went thousands into the coast of South America and but a number of days whaleboats were empty despite the whale damaging their boat by surfacing directly below. Three whaleboats began to pursue a sperm whale but as they tried to harpoon it its fluke hit the boat and damaged its seam, which forced them to cut the line from the whale to put back the boat into the ship for repair. The second boat has also harpooned a whale that was pulling the way. As the work of repaired continued an abnormally larger whale was seen behaving strangely. It lay without any movement and its head was facing the ship and it began to speedily approach the ship diving. The whale hit the ship with its head, went under it, and battered it tipping it to move from side to side. It continued to the starboard side of the ship and lay motionless but the crew could not kill it because it was too close to the rudder and could cause the ship intense damage. The whale was seen swimming ahead of the ship but came back in furry and speed and thrashed it with its tail and its head struck the ship again. This study outlines that the whale crushed the bow and pushed the ship backwards and the whale them swarm away and were never seen again. The ship began to sink slowly and the crew had only whaleboats for survival. The captain gathered navigational instruments but he could do much and was terrified. The ship took two days to sink, during which the crew tried to salvage their supplies.