Whaling shipwreck linked to 'Moby-Dick' found

[Still Waters]

Marine archeologists off Hawaii have found the sunken remains of a 19th century whaling vessel skippered by a captain whose ordeal from an earlier shipwreck inspired the Herman Melville classic "Moby-Dick".

Iron and ceramic scraps from the Nantucket whaling ship known as Two Brothers were located in shallow waters nearly 600 miles (965km) from Honolulu in the remote chain of islands and atolls that make up the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The discovery was announced on Friday by researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which led the initial 2008 expedition to the wreck and subsequent explorations of the site during the past two years.

The ship, which struck a reef and foundered in 1823, was skippered by Captain George Pollard Jr.

Two years earlier, Pollard commanded another ship that was rammed by a whale and sank in the South Pacific in a saga immortalised in Melville's 1851 novel "Moby-Dick."

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[d e v i c e]

Well, I've never been fond of the whole whaling industry. But from an archeological/historical point of view, quite an interesting find.

[:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR:]

I love that story, but I never knew it was inspired from a historical event. The truth sounds darker as it's credited to be the start of the whaling industry in the U.S.

Edited February 14, 2011 by :PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR:

[tipotep]

I didnt know it was based on an actual event either !

Thanks for that .

TiP.

Edited February 15, 2011 by tipotep

[StarChild 83]

ya i didn't know it was a true story.

[d e v i c e]

I heard the actual event even had a bit of canibalism involved.

[Rob Awesome]

I was kind of dissapointed that it wasn't THE ship that was attacked by the whale but the one the guy captained next. still interesting but not quite the same thing, kind of like owning the car the winner of the Daytona 500 drove home in.