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{{Short description|American sailor (1797–1869)}}
'''Owen Chase''' (]-]) First Mate of the ], that was struck and sunk by a ] on ], ]. Chase wrote about the incident in the ''],'' the book that would inspire ] to write '']''.
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Owen Chase
| image = OwenChase.jpg
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1797|10|7|mf=y}}
| birth_place = ], ], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1869|3|8|1797|10|7|mf=y}}
| death_place = Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S.
| occupation = ]
| genre = ]
| movement =
| website =
| signature =
}}


'''Owen Chase''' (October 7, 1797 – March 7, 1869) was ] of the ] ], which sank in the Pacific Ocean on November 20, 1820, after being rammed by a ]. Soon after his return to ], Chase wrote an account of the shipwreck and the attempts of the crew to reach land in small boats. The book, ''Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex'', was published in 1821 and would inspire ] to write '']''.
== Ghostwritten ==
In ''']''', ] notes that ''"Owen Chase was a whaleman, not a writer."'' and that Herman Melville wrote in his own copy of Chase's book ''"There seems no reason to suppose that Owen Chase himself wrote the Narrative. It bears obvious tokens of having been written for him; but at the same time, its whole air plainly evinces that it was carefully and conscientiously written to Owen's dictation of the facts."'' Philbrick notes that Chase had grown up with ], who years later ghostwrote ]'s much praised history of ], and that there also is evidence that Coffin helped write an account of the notorious ''Globe'' mutiny. Philbrik concludes that Coffin was the actual author.


== References == ==Background==
Chase was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Phebe (Meader) and Judah Chase, a farmer. He was one of five surviving brothers, all of whom became whaling captains. In June 1817, on what was probably his second or third voyage, he sailed as a boatsteerer on ''Essex'' under captain Daniel Russell and first mate ] His share of the profits from the successful whaling voyage enabled him to marry Peggy Gardner a few weeks after his return to Nantucket in the spring of 1819.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2SbKfITpMwC&q=Phebe+Meader+Judah+Chase&pg=PA7|title=Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex|first=Thomas Farel|last=Heffernan|date=September 1, 2012|pages=7–9|publisher=]|isbn=9780819573773|access-date=March 28, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref>
*{{cite book | author=Chase, Owen | title=Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex | publisher=W. B. Gilley | year=1821 | id= No ISBN}} New York.
*{{cite book | author=Philbrick, Nathaniel | title=In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex | publisher=Penguin Books | year=2001 | id=ISBN 0-14-100182-0}}


==Sinking of ''Essex''==
]
{{Main|Essex (1799 whaleship)}}
]
As ] of ''Essex,'' 21-year-old Owen Chase left Nantucket on August 12, 1819, on a two-and-a-half-year ] voyage. On the morning of November 20, 1820, a ] (said to be around {{convert|85|ft|m|disp=semicolon}}) twice rammed ''Essex'', sinking her {{convert|2,000|nmi|km|lk=in}} west of ]. The closest known islands, the ], were more than {{convert|1200|mi|km}} to the west and the captain of ''Essex'', George Pollard, intended to make for them but the crew, led by Chase, feared the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to make for South America. Unable to sail against the ]s, the boats had to sail south for {{convert|1000|mi|km|abbr=on}} before they could use the ] to turn towards South America, which would still lie another {{convert|3000|mi|km|abbr=on}} to the east.<ref name="Seagrave">Edward Leslie & Sterling Seagrave ''Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors'' ] 1998 pp. 251–253 {{ISBN|978-0-395-91150-1}}</ref>
]


Of the 20 men in three whale boats who began the journey, eight survived: three who chose to remain on a barely habitable island and five in two boats who attempted to reach South America and who were forced to resort to ] to remain alive.<ref name="Seagrave"/>


==Return to Nantucket==
{{US-writer-stub}}
Along with three other survivors of ''Essex,'' Chase returned to Nantucket on ''Eagle'' on June 11, 1821, to find he had a 14-month-old daughter he had never seen named Phoebe. An account of the homecoming was later published in a magazine. A large crowd had gathered at the docks to see the survivors arrive and as they disembarked, had parted without a sound. The survivors walked alone to their homes without a word being spoken.<ref name="Chase">Thomas Farel Heffernan ''Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex'' Wesleyan University Press 1990 pp. 120 - 134 {{ISBN|978-0-8195-6244-9}}</ref>

Within four months and with the help of a ], he completed an account of the disaster, the ''Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex''; this was used by ] as one of the inspirations for his novel '']''.

==Return to the sea==
In December 1821 Chase signed on as first mate on the whaler ''Florida'' which sailed on December 20 from ], ], the crew list contains the only extant physical description of Chase; 24 years old, five feet 10 inches, dark complexioned and brown haired. After whaling in the same area where ''Essex'' sank, the vessel returned to New Bedford on November 26, 1823. Chase was again greeted by a daughter he had never seen, 18-month-old Lydia. On September 14, 1824, a son William was born and Chase's wife Peggy died two weeks later. Nine months later Chase married Nancy Joy, the widow of Matthew Joy who was the first of the ''Essex'' survivors to die.

Two months later Chase sailed again, as captain of the ''Winslow.'' The ''Winslow'' fished the ] grounds before continuing east to dock briefly in ] before sailing for the Pacific ground and finally returning to New Bedford on June 20, 1827. In mid-August ''Winslow'' set sail for the Brazil Banks, but was badly damaged in a severe storm south of the ] that also sank two whaling ships and damaged three more.{{refn|The Brazil Banks are the edge of the continental shelf to the east and south of latitude 16°S of the coast of South America.<ref>Clayton (2014).</ref>|group=Note}} The ship was forced to return to New Bedford where it took nine months to repair. The ship sailed for the Pacific grounds in mid July 1828, returning early July 1830.<ref name="Chase"/>

Relatively wealthy from his successful whaling voyages, Chase now stayed in Nantucket for two years to supervise the construction at the ] of his own whaler, the ''Charles Carrol'', which sailed on October 10, 1832, for a three-and-a-half-year voyage. Nine months into the voyage, Chase's wife gave birth to a daughter named Adeline. Nancy Chase died several weeks later. Chase's brother Joseph, captain of the ''Catherine,'' was told of the tragedy several months later and passed the news on to Chase when they met in the Pacific ground in August 1834.<ref name="Chase"/> The ''Charles Carrol'' returned to Nantucket in March 1836

On April 5, Chase married Eunice Chadwick. In August, Chase departed on another three-and-a-half-year whaling voyage. Sixteen months later Eunice gave birth to Charles. Herman Melville wrote of the news in his copy of Chase's narrative:<blockquote>"For, while I was in the ''Acushnet'' we heard from some whaleship that we spoke, that the captain of the "Charles Carrol" - that is Owen Chase - had recently received letters from home, informing him of the certain infidelity of his wife, the mother of several children, one of them being the lad of sixteen, whom I alluded to as giving me a copy of his father's narrative to read. We also heard that this receipt of this news had told most heavily upon Chase, & and that he was of the deepest gloom."</blockquote> We know from the ship's log that ''Charles Carrol'' met the whaler ''Hero'' in the grounds, the captain of which was Reuben Joy, brother of Matthew Joy from ''Essex'', and that the two vessels remained together for the unusually long time of two months. It is speculated that it was Joy who passed on the news to Chase. The ''Charles Carrol'' docked at ] on February 15, 1840, where Chase left the ship and traveled to Nantucket. There he filed for divorce on February 18, which was granted on July 7.<ref name="Chase"/>

==Retirement and death==
Two months after the divorce was finalized, Chase married for the fourth and final time to Susan Coffin Chase. He never sailed again.<ref name="Seagrave"/> Memories of the harrowing ordeal haunted Chase. He suffered terrible headaches and nightmares. Later in his life, Chase began hiding food in the attic of his Nantucket house on Orange Street and was eventually institutionalized.{{sfn|Philbrick|2001|p=244}} He remained there for an estimated 8 years and was subsequently released.

He died on March 7, 1869, and is buried in the New North Cemetery in Nantucket with two of his wives, Peggy and Nancy.<ref>Grave of Owen Chase, New Cemetery, Nantucket</ref>

==Family==

Chase was married four times:

*April 1819 to Peggy Gardner and had several children
*June 1825 to Nancy Joy a widow
*April 1836 to Eunice Chadwick
*Sept 1840 to Susan Gwinn or Quinn, a widow

==In popular culture==
*The 1971 album '']'', by the band ], contains the song ''Nantucket Sleighride (to Owen Coffin)'', inspired by Chase's account of the ''Essex''.
*In 2013, the television movie '']'' was broadcast on ] on December 22, 2013, wherein an elderly ], who had been the cabin boy on ''Essex'', recounts the events. Chase was played by ].
*In 2015, the film '']'', directed by ] Winner ], was released on December 11, 2015, with Chase being portrayed by ].
*A dramatized documentary, entitled '']'', had already been produced and broadcast on September 7, 2001, by ]. The Chase character was voiced by actor ].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

==See also==
* ], a ship sunk by a whale on August 20, 1851
* '']'', a ]-winning work of maritime history by ] telling the ''Essex'' story from the point of view of both Nickerson and Chase.
* ], the above book adapted into a feature film by director ], starring ], ], and ].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book
| title = Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex
| last = Chase
| first = Owen
| location = New York
| publisher = W. B. Gilley
| year = 1821
| isbn = 9780819562449
| oclc = 12217894
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qgaD97DaxfQC&q=Narrative+of+the+Most+Extraordinary+and+Distressing+Shipwreck+of+the+Whale-Ship+Essex&pg=PA13}} Also in Heffernan, Thomas Farel, , Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press; : distributed by Columbia University Press, 1981.
* {{cite book
| title = Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex
| last = Chase
| first = Owen
| publisher = Lyons Press
| location = New York
| year = 1999
| isbn = 1-55821-878-5
| oclc = 12217894
}}
*Clayton, Jane M. (2014) ''Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775-1815: An alphabetical list of ships''. (Berforts Group). {{ISBN|978-1908616524}}
* {{cite book
| title = ]
| last = Philbrick
| first = Nathaniel
| author-link = Nathaniel Philbrick
| location = New York
| publisher=Penguin Books
| year=2001
| isbn = 0-14-100182-8
| oclc = 46949818
}}

==External links==
* {{Librivox author |id=11737}}
* at ]

{{American folklore}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Owen}}
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]
]
]
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Latest revision as of 01:19, 18 July 2024

American sailor (1797–1869)

Owen Chase
Born(1797-10-07)October 7, 1797
Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 8, 1869(1869-03-08) (aged 71)
Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S.
OccupationWhaling Captain
GenreNon fiction

Owen Chase (October 7, 1797 – March 7, 1869) was first mate of the whaler Essex, which sank in the Pacific Ocean on November 20, 1820, after being rammed by a sperm whale. Soon after his return to Nantucket, Chase wrote an account of the shipwreck and the attempts of the crew to reach land in small boats. The book, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, was published in 1821 and would inspire Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick.

Background

Chase was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Phebe (Meader) and Judah Chase, a farmer. He was one of five surviving brothers, all of whom became whaling captains. In June 1817, on what was probably his second or third voyage, he sailed as a boatsteerer on Essex under captain Daniel Russell and first mate George Pollard Jr. His share of the profits from the successful whaling voyage enabled him to marry Peggy Gardner a few weeks after his return to Nantucket in the spring of 1819.

Sinking of Essex

Main article: Essex (1799 whaleship)

As first mate of Essex, 21-year-old Owen Chase left Nantucket on August 12, 1819, on a two-and-a-half-year whaling voyage. On the morning of November 20, 1820, a sperm whale (said to be around 85 feet; 26 m) twice rammed Essex, sinking her 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) west of South America. The closest known islands, the Marquesas, were more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to the west and the captain of Essex, George Pollard, intended to make for them but the crew, led by Chase, feared the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to make for South America. Unable to sail against the trade winds, the boats had to sail south for 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before they could use the Westerlies to turn towards South America, which would still lie another 3,000 mi (4,800 km) to the east.

Of the 20 men in three whale boats who began the journey, eight survived: three who chose to remain on a barely habitable island and five in two boats who attempted to reach South America and who were forced to resort to cannibalism to remain alive.

Return to Nantucket

Along with three other survivors of Essex, Chase returned to Nantucket on Eagle on June 11, 1821, to find he had a 14-month-old daughter he had never seen named Phoebe. An account of the homecoming was later published in a magazine. A large crowd had gathered at the docks to see the survivors arrive and as they disembarked, had parted without a sound. The survivors walked alone to their homes without a word being spoken.

Within four months and with the help of a ghostwriter, he completed an account of the disaster, the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex; this was used by Herman Melville as one of the inspirations for his novel Moby-Dick.

Return to the sea

In December 1821 Chase signed on as first mate on the whaler Florida which sailed on December 20 from New Bedford, Massachusetts, the crew list contains the only extant physical description of Chase; 24 years old, five feet 10 inches, dark complexioned and brown haired. After whaling in the same area where Essex sank, the vessel returned to New Bedford on November 26, 1823. Chase was again greeted by a daughter he had never seen, 18-month-old Lydia. On September 14, 1824, a son William was born and Chase's wife Peggy died two weeks later. Nine months later Chase married Nancy Joy, the widow of Matthew Joy who was the first of the Essex survivors to die.

Two months later Chase sailed again, as captain of the Winslow. The Winslow fished the Japan grounds before continuing east to dock briefly in San Francisco before sailing for the Pacific ground and finally returning to New Bedford on June 20, 1827. In mid-August Winslow set sail for the Brazil Banks, but was badly damaged in a severe storm south of the Canary Islands that also sank two whaling ships and damaged three more. The ship was forced to return to New Bedford where it took nine months to repair. The ship sailed for the Pacific grounds in mid July 1828, returning early July 1830.

Relatively wealthy from his successful whaling voyages, Chase now stayed in Nantucket for two years to supervise the construction at the Brant Point shipyards of his own whaler, the Charles Carrol, which sailed on October 10, 1832, for a three-and-a-half-year voyage. Nine months into the voyage, Chase's wife gave birth to a daughter named Adeline. Nancy Chase died several weeks later. Chase's brother Joseph, captain of the Catherine, was told of the tragedy several months later and passed the news on to Chase when they met in the Pacific ground in August 1834. The Charles Carrol returned to Nantucket in March 1836

On April 5, Chase married Eunice Chadwick. In August, Chase departed on another three-and-a-half-year whaling voyage. Sixteen months later Eunice gave birth to Charles. Herman Melville wrote of the news in his copy of Chase's narrative:

"For, while I was in the Acushnet we heard from some whaleship that we spoke, that the captain of the "Charles Carrol" - that is Owen Chase - had recently received letters from home, informing him of the certain infidelity of his wife, the mother of several children, one of them being the lad of sixteen, whom I alluded to as giving me a copy of his father's narrative to read. We also heard that this receipt of this news had told most heavily upon Chase, & and that he was of the deepest gloom."

We know from the ship's log that Charles Carrol met the whaler Hero in the grounds, the captain of which was Reuben Joy, brother of Matthew Joy from Essex, and that the two vessels remained together for the unusually long time of two months. It is speculated that it was Joy who passed on the news to Chase. The Charles Carrol docked at Holmes Hole on February 15, 1840, where Chase left the ship and traveled to Nantucket. There he filed for divorce on February 18, which was granted on July 7.

Retirement and death

Two months after the divorce was finalized, Chase married for the fourth and final time to Susan Coffin Chase. He never sailed again. Memories of the harrowing ordeal haunted Chase. He suffered terrible headaches and nightmares. Later in his life, Chase began hiding food in the attic of his Nantucket house on Orange Street and was eventually institutionalized. He remained there for an estimated 8 years and was subsequently released.

He died on March 7, 1869, and is buried in the New North Cemetery in Nantucket with two of his wives, Peggy and Nancy.

Family

Chase was married four times:

  • April 1819 to Peggy Gardner and had several children
  • June 1825 to Nancy Joy a widow
  • April 1836 to Eunice Chadwick
  • Sept 1840 to Susan Gwinn or Quinn, a widow

In popular culture

See also

Notes

  1. The Brazil Banks are the edge of the continental shelf to the east and south of latitude 16°S of the coast of South America.

Citations

  1. Heffernan, Thomas Farel (September 1, 2012). Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex. Wesleyan University Press. pp. 7–9. ISBN 9780819573773. Retrieved March 28, 2019 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Edward Leslie & Sterling Seagrave Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 1998 pp. 251–253 ISBN 978-0-395-91150-1
  3. ^ Thomas Farel Heffernan Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex Wesleyan University Press 1990 pp. 120 - 134 ISBN 978-0-8195-6244-9
  4. Clayton (2014).
  5. Philbrick 2001, p. 244.
  6. Grave of Owen Chase, New Cemetery, Nantucket

References

External links

American folklore
Native
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Idiomatic figures
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