Want to learn the ideas in In The Heart Of The Sea better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of In The Heart Of The Sea

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on In The Heart Of The Sea, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Nathaniel Philbrick.

1-Page Summary of In The Heart Of The Sea

In 1819, Thomas Nickerson was 14 years old and a cabin boy on the Essex. He had lost his parents at sea, and would soon lose another parent to the same occupation. The ship itself was 20 years old and in need of some serious repairs before it could sail off again.

The crew on the whaling ship Essex was divided into two watches. As they sailed to the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, a storm hit and damaged their ship. The captain of the ship tried to sail through it but realized too late that he should have turned sooner. He ordered his men to shorten sails, but by this time, they were at an angle with the wind so when the storm finally passed over them, it took away all of their whaleboats and most of their sails.

The crew of the Essex made their way to the Azores, where they picked up provisions. They also managed to acquire a whaleboat from a wrecked ship on shore. Later, when they were at sea again, the lookout spotted whales and signaled for them to row out after one. When they got close enough, they harpooned it and killed it with a lance. After that, they dissected it and removed its oil in the form of spermaceti before searching for ambergris in its intestines. The crew was exhausted by this time but refused their small ration of meat as punishment for not working hard enough during this process.

The crew had collected 11 whales worth of oil and were heading north when they passed the dangerous Cape Horn. They stopped at an island to hunt tortoises, which would provide food for more than a year if necessary. Thomas Chappel accidentally set fire to the entire island while playing a prank on his friends. He estimated that thousands of creatures died in the fire.

After a while, the men returned to their normal routine. Eventually, Lawrence failed to harpoon a whale and Chase was upset with him for it. He took over the task himself and left Lawrence alone on deck. While there he saw something very strange: a large male sperm whale swam near them at an unusually close distance (which they usually do not). The whale made its way towards the ship headfirst, crashing into it in seconds. It knocked down several of the crew members including Chase who instinctively picked up his lance but did not use it because he feared that if he attacked the whale then it would knock out their rudder which would prevent them from returning home from this long voyage (they were about as far away from land as possible). They all watched in dismay as the whale turned around one more time and charged towards them once again at twice its original speed. The Essex began to sink and finally gave up hope of surviving this attack by swimming off never to be seen again.

The crew pulled out as much food and water that they could before boarding three small boats called whaling ships or “whalers” which are used specifically for hunting whales; however, these allowed only three people each so many had no choice but stay behind on what was now just a floating carcass of wood. As they sailed away from what was once their home for months, some cried while others went crazy due to lack of sleep after spending days with nothing else to do except think about how bad things really were without any distractions like television or video games or even books since most of those items were lost during this incident when everything seemed so calm earlier that day when all anyone wanted was just one bite of fresh meat instead of dried fish yet none dared speak such words aloud knowing full well how foolish such thoughts might sound amidst such dire circumstances where death could come upon you anytime without warning…