BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found

Subject: RE: BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 12:51 PM

Here's a page at the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument website with links to more info and a video.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 12:47 PM

Toward the end of the article:

For his part, Captain Pollard was rescued a day after the Two Brothers sank. He returned to Nantucket, where he settled into a sedate, quiet and decidedly nonseafaring life, though other sailors quietly deemed him a "Jonah," or star-crossed mariner.

He eventually took a job as the town's night watchman. In the 1850s, he was visited by a 30-something writer who had just published a novel — "Moby-Dick" — to middling reviews. A former whaler himself, Melville had sought out Pollard and found, according to Mr. Philbrick, a kind of soul mate in the older man.

"Both of them had experienced the ultimate in terms of living," he said, "and then went on quietly in their lives ignored by everyone."

Indeed, Melville worked as a customs inspector until several years before his death in 1891. Pollard died — alone but apparently beloved by fellow Nantucketers — in 1870. But while Melville's reputation soared, few know of Captain Pollard.

Subject: RE: BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 12:44 PM

Pollard ended up with some low level job on the wharf after losing the Two Brothers. This is a very exciting find. Can't wait for the pictures.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found
From: EBarnacle
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 12:38 PM

I just shared this with Barry Nickerson, editor of the newsletter "On the wind." The inquiry was whether he is related to Thomas Nickerson, mentioned as having been with Pollard on both voyages. His response: I don't know but will be finding out this Spring.

Subject: RE: BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 12:13 PM

Sorry - just one great pic.

Subject: BS: Essex Capt. Pollard's other wreck found
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 12:10 PM

In the NY Times today: No 'Moby-Dick': A Real Captain, Twice Doomed

By JESSE McKINLEY
February 11, 2011

HONOLULU — In the annals of the sea, there were few sailors whose luck was worse than George Pollard Jr.'s.

Pollard, you see, was the captain of the Essex, the doomed Nantucket whaler whose demise, in 1820, came in a most unbelievable fashion: it was attacked and sunk by an angry sperm whale, an event that inspired Herman Melville to write "Moby-Dick."

Unlike the tale of Ahab and Ishmael, however, Pollard's story didn't end there: After the Essex sank, Pollard and his crew floated through the Pacific for three months, a journey punctuated by death, starvation, madness and, in the end, cannibalism. (Pollard, alas, ate his cousin.)

Despite all that, Pollard survived and was given another ship to steer: the Two Brothers, the very boat that had brought the poor captain back to Nantucket.

And then, that ship sank, too.

On Friday, in a discovery that might bring a measure of peace to Captain Pollard, who survived his second wreck (though his career did not), researchers announced that they have found the remains of the Two Brothers. The whaler went down exactly 188 years ago after hitting a reef at the French Frigate Shoals, a treacherous atoll about 600 miles northwest of here. The trove includes dozens of artifacts: harpoon tips, whaling lances and three intact anchors.

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Full story and great pics at the link.

~ Becky in Long Beach