"The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World" Roll 3, Section 37/44

[ The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World is viewed from right to left ]

In 1824 a Nantucket whaling master Richard Macy of the ship Maro visited the Society Islands for wood and water. He told a story that was printed in the Nantucket and New Bedford newspapers of how he sailed into a bay and tied his ship up to a tree. That story is the basis for the artists including the scene in the Panorama.

While cruising on the Off Shore Grounds in the Pacific Ocean in November 1820 the ship Essex of Nantucket, George Pollard, master, was rammed and sunk by a large and furious sperm whale. The crew of 20 men took to the whaleboats and made for the coast of Chile over 4000 miles away. Only eight men survived the ordeal having resorted to cannibalism to survive. End of Roll 3